The famous critic Robert Parker said that 2009 was possibly the greatest Bordeaux vintage of his professional lifetime. Like 1982, he said, but maybe even better. He gave 19 different wines 100-point ratings.

Château Massereau vigneron, Jean-François Chaigneau, told us once that he hates Robert Parker, and we’re pretty sure he feels the same way about ratings.

He makes proper, old-school Bordeaux wines that do not require fancy modern gadgetry to be made. They do not taste like “fruit explosions”, nor do they possess “gobs” of glycerol, but they do taste of place.

But even Chaigneau might agree with Parker about 2009, because it’s the best vintage of Massereau’s “Cuvée K” we’ve ever tasted. If you’ve ever come into the shop and talked to us about Bordeaux, you know what high praise that is, because it’s a wine we recommend in every vintage.

Most 2009s were released about a decade ago, but Massereau holds on to their bottles and releases them when Chaigneau feels the wines are truly ready to drink.

It’s a bit of an unusual move, but one we can really get behind – you can’t beat the provenance! We like how he does a lot of things, actually, like eschewing chemicals in the vineyard, plowing with horses, and using an old manual wooden press in the cellar.

The benevolence of the vintage simply can’t be denied here, as it takes everything we like about this wine and turns it up a few notches. There’s more richness and length, and the tannins are plush but wonderfully defined. You still get plenty of brightness (not always a given in a ripe year), helping the wine to retain it’s classicism, and nascent tertiary notes on the nose add woodsy depth.

As far as staff tastes go, Cuvée K might be the most universally admired selection under $40 in our shop.

Part of that is because of how good the wine tastes, but the other part is the value. That’s especially true of this remarkable 2009. Don't miss out on this, click through and stock up, today!

Château Massereau, Cuvée K Bordeaux Supérieur, 2009