• Cheap Wine < $10
  • Cheap Wine +/- $20
  • Cheap Wine – Red
    • Bubbly (blanc de noirs)
    • Cabernet Sauvignon
    • Grenache/Garnacha
    • Malbec
    • Merlot
    • Mourvedre
    • Petite Sirah
    • Pinot Noir
    • Red Blend
    • Rosé
    • Sparkling Rosé
    • Syrah/Shiraz
    • Tempranillo
    • Zinfandel
  • Cheap Wine – White
    • Bubbly (blanc de blancs)
    • Chardonnay
    • Chenin Blanc
    • Pinot Gris/Grigio
    • Riesling
    • Sauvignon Blanc
    • Torrontes
    • White Blend
    • Other White Grapes
  • CheapWineFinder Podcast

Cheap Wine Finder

Remarkable wines that pair nicely with your wallet

You are here: Home / Cheap Wine - Red / Merlot / Chateau Le Grand Moulin 2016 Costco

Chateau Le Grand Moulin 2016 Costco

January 16, 2020 by Domaine Dave 4 Comments

Chateau Le Grand Moulin Bordeaux 2016The Story

The Chateau Le Grand Moulin Bordeaux 2016 is a blend of 80% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 5% Malbec from the Estate vineyard in the Blaye Cotes de Bordeaux AOP. This is wine available at Costco for $7.99, I don’t think this is a Costco exclusive, on-line retailers seem to sell the same wine for almost twice as much.

Chateau Le Grand is a family-owned vineyard and winery founded over 100 years ago.  Blaye AOP is the northern-most growing region in Bordeaux’s Right Bank (the big names like Pomerol are located further south).  Merlot is the main grape, but Blaye also produces White wines and Sparkling wine. This is the region that produces everyday wines that is a step up from the value-priced wines.

50% of the wines from Bordeaux sell for under $20, which always surprised me since I equated Bordeaux with Napa Valley and not much is value-priced in Napa. The French have a tradition of drinking wine with their meals, so it makes sense that Bordeaux offers reasonably priced wines. Actually every growing region in France, other than Champagne, produces affordable wines. Sometimes the marketing makes it seem like they specialize in high-end wines, but that isn’t the case.

In Bordeaux, the simple (too simple) explanation is the Left Bank grows Cabernet Sauvignon and the Right Bank farms Merlot, but it is more complicated than that. The soil types change from area to area as do the growing conditions, but most of those details are not as important with value-priced wine. The collectors argue over which year is a good year and which Grand Cru excelled that year. With affordable Bordeaux, a good producer with a quality vineyard is what is important.

The Chateau Le Grand Moulin cold maceration before fermentation. Cold Maceration is where they refrigerate the grapes for a few days, this technique helps concentrate the flavors and the color of the wine. After fermentation, this Red blend was aged in cement vats. Cement vats (they are lined to keep the actual cement away from the wine) are thick enough that they insulate the wine from temperature and humidity changes. Wine loves stable aging conditions and cement offers protection that stainless steel tanks and wood barrels can’t.

Even though this is an 8 buck Red blend the Chateau Le Grand 2016 has received 89 and 90 points from James Suckling and Wine Enthusiast, respectively. While wine points do not mean you will actually like the wine they do indicate that acknowledge professions deemed this a quality- made Bordeaux Red wine. The alcohol content is 13.5%.

Bordeaux Tasting Notes

The color is a dark, barely see-thru black cherry red. The nose is blackberry, baking spice, black pepper, tea, dark chocolate, raspberry, and a blast of sweet blueberry. This is a well-balanced wine, it has tannins if you are used to California value-priced wines you might have forgotten how tannins used to be. It tastes of a mix of blackberry, pepper, soft plum, and spice. The mid-palate brings orange zest and dried strawberry pieces, a light hint of cream, and Nestlt Quick powder.

This is a French Red blend, it is a different style than California and Washington State Red blends, you would never call this a juicy wine. What it lacks in fruit flavor it makes up for with structure, though it does have good flavor. The tannins are there, they make their presence known, but they do not bite. The acidity gives this Red nice length. The finish is fairly full and of reasonable length.

The Summary

  • I like this wine, it resets my palate. With writing and talking about value-priced wine you drink a lot of fruit-forward New World style wine, it is the dominant style of winemaking today. And while I wouldn’t say the Chateau Le Grand is an Old School red it is very French with solid French style.
  • At $7.99 this Bordeaux Blend is a bargain.
  • I find that most Merlot wines are OK, they are fine but rarely memorable. There are scatter winemakers who do an exceptional job with Merlot, but rarely in the Value wine segment. You kind of wonder “what’s the big deal about Merlot”, until you try Bordeaux Merlot and then it all makes sense.  Buy this wone for the Merlot, if nothing else.

Related Posts:

  • Le Grand Verre 2020
    Le Grand Verre 2020
  • Trader Joe's Grand Reserve Napa Chardonnay
    Trader Joe's Grand Reserve Napa Chardonnay
  • Trader Joe's Grand Reserve Carneros Pinot Noir 2018
    Trader Joe's Grand Reserve Carneros Pinot Noir 2018
  • Trader Joe's Grand Reserve Carneros Pinot Noir 2020
    Trader Joe's Grand Reserve Carneros Pinot Noir 2020

Filed Under: Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cheap Wine < $10, Cheap Wine - Red, Cheap Wine Podcast, Malbec, Red Blend Tagged With: best cheap wine, Bordeaux, Cabernet Sauvignon, cheap bordeaux wine, cheap wine podcast, Costco, Malbec, Merlot, wine podcast

Cheap Wine Podcast – Latest Episodes!

Comments

  1. C. Mack Amick says

    March 26, 2020 at 5:17 pm

    Your review and impressions are as delightful as the Chateau Le Grand Bordeaux itself. Thank you for helping me feel quite good about my purchase! A su salud!

  2. Gregois says

    May 29, 2020 at 8:57 pm

    I’d wager the mid-palate took on a different life. My tongue was mostly captivated by the starfruits playful presence, masked only by a discrete Ovaltine backing. Bordeaux IS known for bringing the chocolate powder characteristics of its grapes to the forefront.

    Wines aight.

  3. Martin jourard says

    August 12, 2020 at 11:48 pm

    Everybody has their own palate and nobody else’s so it is impossible to be objective in rating a wine. However, living in the PNW and having had my fill of expensive Washington wines that are so fruit forward and “explosive” on the palate that they seem to resemble fruit flavored high-alcohol cough syrup, this relatively low-alcohol French bordeaux has a core of discrenible and friendly tannin with great fragrance and foodability. I’ve bought at least a case of this at Costco, absolutely wins the under $10 food friendly wine sweepstakes.

  4. Andrew Manon Gould says

    November 7, 2020 at 5:14 pm

    Bravo. The wine has the classic Bordeaux dusty palate that always come to mind comparing an excellent Napa fruit forward wine. I liked the before remarks of “chocolate powder characteristic”. I am “still” an advanced wine student after failing the first final exam attempt I to got this at Costco in Honolulu, one of the best values I have ever experienced

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Cheap Wine Photos

cheapwinefinder

New #podcast #episode: Angeline California Pinot N New #podcast #episode: Angeline California Pinot Noir 2020 (link in bio)
.
.
.
#AngelineCaliforniaPinotNoir2020, #BestCheapWine2020, #CaliforniaPinotNoir, #WinePodcast
Let's do this! It's Friday & there's dragonberry m Let's do this! It's Friday & there's dragonberry margs to drink! Dragonberry!
.
.
.
#margarita #tropical #dragonberry @salsa17grill
New #podcast #episode: Beauty In Chaos Pinot Grigi New #podcast #episode: Beauty In Chaos Pinot Grigio 2019 (link in bio)
.
.
.
#BeautyInChaosPinotGrigio2019, #BestCheapWine2022, #ColumbiaValleyAVA, #PinotGrigio, #TargetWine, #WinePodcast
New #podcast #episode: La Burgondie Cremant de Bou New #podcast #episode: La Burgondie Cremant de Bourgogne Brut Rosé (link in bio)
.
.
.
#BestCheapWine2022, #FrenchBubbly, #LaBurgondieCremantDeBourgogneBrutRosé, #TraderJoe039SWine, #WinePodcast
New #podcast #episode: Trader Joe's Reserve Alexan New #podcast #episode: Trader Joe's Reserve Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2020 Lot 225 (link in bio)
.
.
.
#BestCheapWine2022, #TraderJoe039SReserveAlexanderValleyCabernetSauvignon2020Lot225, #WinePodcast
New #podcast #episode: The Pale Rosé 2021 (link i New #podcast #episode: The Pale Rosé 2021 (link in bio)
.
.
.
#BestCheapWine2022, #IGPWine, #ProvenceRose, #ThePaleRosé2021, #WinePodcast
Load More... Hit us up on Insta

Cheap Wine Events

Cheap Wine Subscription

You know you want our latest & greatest cheap wine articles delivered right to your inbox, so go ahead and slide us your email.

Cheap Wine Info

  • Advertise
  • Cheap Wine Photo Gallery
  • CheapWineFinder Staff
  • Contact CheapWineFinder
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Service
©2022, CheapWineFinder.com
Advertise | Log in

Posting....