Chateau Ferrande 2012

I had this wine over Easter with roast rack of lamb. This is an estate with which I am not familiar, and one from Graves, rather then the more familiar and more prestigious Pessac-Leognan. An ancient estate with roots back to Roman times, the estate was probably planted with grapes for the past three or so centuries and was managed by the Castel group since the 1960s, and they purchased the estate in 1992. The estate produces both a red and a white grand vin as well as a red second wine (Ch Guillon).

The wine was a deep ruby, with a slightly sweet acid leafy nose giving way to black currant notes with a touch of alcohol and tannins. The palate was sweet with berry fruit, accompanied by acid and tannins. There was some alcohol heat before yielding to an acid and tannic backbone. The alcohol heat dissipated with breathing and it went well with the lamb.