2005 Chateau Carignan Prima

The 2005 Chateau Carignan Prima 1.5 L is from the Bordeaux region of France. Chateau Carignan consistently stands out as a great value wine – high critic scores with a reasonable price. James Suckling recently sponsored two major tasting events celebrating his top picks for great-drinking Bordeaux, with over 500 consumers in attendance. Among the many classified growths featured were a select few producers from lesser-known appellations who consistently outperform their peers. Of these, Chateau Carignan stood out yet again as a truly outstanding value. In the program notes, James Suckling writes: "This large château is about half an hour’s drive from the center of Bordeaux in the appellation of Cotes de Bordeaux, and makes a wonderful pure merlot, Prima, from its oldest vines. I have tasted the wine blind against a number of top merlot-based wines from the legendary Pomerol region, and Prima shows incredibly well, often beating many of them. [The winery owner's] goal is to show that Prima can compete with wines four or five times the price, and I think he has already proved his point. Having said all the above, the normal Carignan, which also incorporates Cabernet, is superb and can even outstrip the Prima in some vintages. These are excellent value Bordeaux."