Cantemerle embodies the traditions we love about Bordeaux, and it manages to deliver real value while doing it. Classified Fifth Growth in 1855 (though critic John Gilman argues it should really be a Third), the chteau sits on the wrong side of Margaux’s border the same gravelly Haut-Mdoc terroir, none of the cachet or the price. They are one of the few estates still vinifying most of their grand vin in concrete vats. They never adopted the modern playbook: no malolactic in barrique, no slashing of Cabernet Sauvignon, no fashionable wall of new oak. The result is one of the only Grand Cru Classs that can honestly be called traditionalist Bordeaux intense, with that particular Cantemerle balance of luxury and hard-assery. The 2019 is a beautiful vintage to taste it in.