Chateau Chasse Spleen 2023

The Land

Nobody agrees on where the name came from. One story credits Lord Byron, who supposedly visited in 1821 and called the wine a remedy to chase away the spleen, the 19th-century word for melancholy. The other credits Baudelaire, whose poems are full of it. What is not in dispute is the ground. Chasse-Spleen was carved out of the old Grand Poujeaux estate, the gravel rise on the eastern side of Moulis-en-Médoc, inland from the Gironde between Margaux and Saint-Julien. The soils are gravel mixed with clay and limestone, varying parcel to parcel, and the estate grades its parcels by how reliably they perform, so the grand vin draws from the most consistent plots. Gravel gives Cabernet Sauvignon warmth and drainage; the clay underneath holds water through a dry August and keeps the Merlot from stalling.

The Wine

Château Chasse-Spleen 2023 is 57% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 10% Petit Verdot and 3% Cabernet Franc. Harvest ran long and in stages: Merlot from September 15 to 26, Cabernet Franc on September 22, Petit Verdot on September 30, and Cabernet Sauvignon from September 27 to October 6. The season tested the team. A mild, dry winter brought early bud break, frost hit between early April and mid-May, and a humid, tropical June brought mildew before the bunches closed. Late heat then stressed the Cabernet and concentrated it quickly. That 10% of Petit Verdot is higher than most Médoc blends carry, and it shows in the color and the spice. Dark garnet going purple at the rim. Black cherry first, then tarragon, graphite, woodsmoke and red fruit, with soft tannins built on a fine grain and a long, fragrant, saline finish.

The People

The Castaing family owned Chasse-Spleen from the 1860s split of Grand Poujeaux until their line ended. In 1976 the Merlaut family, one of Bordeaux's large wine families, bought the estate, and Jacques Merlaut's daughter Bernadette Villars took it over. A former teacher, she rebuilt the cellar and the vineyard with the enologist Émile Peynaud advising, and turned Chasse-Spleen into the benchmark for Moulis. She died in a mountain accident in 1992. Her daughter Céline Villars-Foubet runs the estate today with her husband Jean-Pierre Foubet. Chasse-Spleen has since taken in neighboring Château Gressier Grand Poujeaux, reuniting land that had run side by side for close to two centuries, and the family makes one of the Médoc's rare white wines here as well.

Food Pairing

Start in Bordeaux itself with entrecôte à la bordelaise: a ribeye seared hard, sauced with red wine, shallots and a spoonful of bone marrow. The tannin cuts the marrow and the black cherry picks up the reduction. Pork tenderloin with a tarragon and mustard cream sauce plays straight into the herbal side of the wine. Duck breast, skin rendered crisp and served with a sour cherry pan sauce, matches fruit to fruit while the acid clears the fat. For something simpler, a hanger steak sandwich on a baguette with caramelized onions and watercress. Moulis-en-Médoc red wine at this price is the smart money in Bordeaux, and this is the bottle to open when the week has earned a proper steak.