2016 Chateau Croix de Labrie Camille de Labrie Bordeaux 750 ml

Dim Sum, Bordeaux, and the Bargain Red Behind It All

Don’t let the price on this Bordeaux fool you—Camille de Labrie is a critic favorite from one of Bordeaux’s top families. We’ve enjoyed past vintages so much, we made a special trip to visit Pierre and his young daughter Camille (for whom the wine is named), at their estate outside Saint-Émilion to ensure we received an allocation of this excellent 2016 vintage.

Here’s what you need to know: Camille is a budget-friendly red, made with First-Growth attention to detail. It scored a knockout 91 points—unheard of for wines in this value sector—and is made by global winemaker extraordinaire Michel Rolland. Red wine bargains don’t get better than this, and you won’t find it anywhere else in the US. We recommend getting this in your cart (we’ve already placed our orders) and then reading up on how we scored this deal.

Now, for the story:

On our trip to Bordeaux in February, we met with Pierre Courdurié of Croix de Labrie, whose estate the venerable critic Robert Parker once described as the “quintessential St. Émilion garagiste wine,” and for good reason—the hallowed ground surrounding the winery also belongs to Parker’s “over-achieving” Clos Dubreuil, and as the crow flies, near Pavie, Troplong-Mondot, and Angélus.   

In a region where producers are on the hook year after year to turn out highly impressive, expensive wines, we were blown away by the level of detail employed to produce the beautiful, seamless everyday red they call “Camille,” which comes from a choice selection of vines rooted in the rolling hillsides of Entre-Deux-Mers. The same strict production techniques used to make their Grand Cru wines are applied to Camille—hand-harvesting, hand-sorting, and aging 10 months in barrel and another 6 months prior to release. Crafted under the watchful eye of the legendary consulting winemaker Michel Rolland (Harlan Estate, Valandraud, Angélus), this bargain red Bordeaux offers beautiful structure and finesse through a lens of vivacious black raspberry, cassis, crushed rock minerality, and savory spices. A bonafide Bordeaux steal.

Pierre’s 2016 Camille de Labrie is his family's outstanding value Bordeaux red, which combines 80% Merlot with 20% Cabernet. Tasted in their cellar, Pierre suggested that we might enjoy an entire bottle at his favorite dim sum restaurant in Bordeaux—Madame Pang. Not wanting to disappoint, we promptly followed his instructions and were quite glad we did.

The super trendy Madame Pang is the place to see and be seen; we positioned our bottle of Camille de Labrie on the table with the label facing as many patrons as possible. It was all downhill from there. The waiter was elated to see one of his “favorite” reds grace the table, and without asking, showered us with dim sum. Then, we looked around—we weren’t the only ones sipping the Camille—and that’s when we knew we had to take this Bordelaise favorite to American shores. You won’t find it on shelves anywhere else.

Surrounded by golden walls, we sank into a velvet bench, and clinked glasses, pausing now and again to admire another round of fabulously fancy and delicate bites as they emerged from the kitchen. We shared Peking chicken dumplings, others stuffed with pork and porcini mushrooms, and chicken and foie gras spring rolls.

All the while, the Camille de Labrie continued to open, becoming an impressive wine that frankly should cost three times as much. From a deeply ruby-garnet core, showing lively and inviting purple florals, chocolate, and spice, all continuing through the palate in vivacious black raspberry and Damson plum fruits, cassis, crushed rock minerality, and savory spices on a long, mouthwatering finish. Whether paired with Dim Sum today or in five years, few reds match Camille on value, pedigree, and pleasure.