Vieux Chateau Champs de Mars, 'Johanna'

There was a time—not that long ago—when you could drink mature classified Bordeaux on a modest salary if you really wanted to. That reality has evaporated. Since I first got into the business in the early 2000s, the pricing for top Bordeaux has climbed into a realm most of us only visit on birthdays and anniversaries. And yet, if you know where to look, the greatest Bordeaux deals today aren’t the glossy new releases—they’re perfectly aged classics from overlooked appellations, still sitting quietly in château cellars, waiting to surprise anyone willing to ignore the label-status game. Every so often, I find one that makes absolutely no sense for the price, and this is that wine: the 2000 Vieux Château Champs de Mars from Castillon–Côtes de Bordeaux, just a 15-minute drive southeast of Cheval Blanc in Saint-Émilion, sharing the same clay-limestone plateau. One smell and I was sold: pipe tobacco, red currant, vintage leather, dried wildflowers, cold cellar stone, and that deep, brooding umami-rich complexity that made us fall for Bordeaux in the first place. It has just been released from the château’s library, untouched since bottling, and lands just over $50—a price that feels like a clerical error for a fully mature Bordeaux of this quality. If you love great Bordeaux but hate paying modern Bordeaux prices, do not miss this. Quantities are limited.

Vieux Château Champs de Mars was founded in the early 1980s by Régis Moro, a winemaker farming organically and fermenting with native yeasts long before those ideas were fashionable—or monetizable. While most of Bordeaux was chasing points, pumping up extraction, and shellacking wines in new oak, Moro was out in the clay-limestone hills east of Saint-Émilion doing the opposite—making wine the way your grandfather thinks everyone still does. Same vineyards, same old barrels, same stubborn belief that great wine shouldn’t need a cosmetic team. His neighbors at Château Le Puy earned underground cult fame for the same philosophy; Moro mostly earned silence. He even won “Winemaker of the Year” in Le Point—one of France’s most influential wine publications—but subtlety doesn’t trend on spreadsheets. In 2022, the Amoreau family of Le Puy bought the estate and discovered a cellar stacked with untouched vintages—a time capsule of what Bordeaux tasted like before money started shaping the flavor. This 2000 “Johanna” is one of those bottles, finally seeing daylight after 24 years underground.

The 2000 “Johanna” is a classic Right Bank blend: 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Franc produced solely from the oldest vines on the property—70-year-old parcels, including one planted in 1904. Hand-harvested, fully destemmed, fermented in large oak vats for 60 days, then aged 18 months in neutral 225L barrels before bottling unfined and unfiltered. It delivers everything we hope for in great, mature Right Bank Bordeaux: preserved red fruit, earth, savory herbs, old leather, rocky minerality, and that seamless, sculpted texture that only time can create. Serve at 60–65°F in Bordeaux stems and pair with roast lamb, duck confit, mushroom risotto, or a rare filet like they would serve locally. To enjoy, stand the bottle up for a few hours, ideally overnight, to settle sediment. Decant gently with a phone light held beneath the neck of the bottle, stopping before the final half-inch of wine as the sediment appears. The wine hits its stride 15–20 minutes after opening and stays vibrant for a couple of hours. Do not over-decant—too much air will flatten the aromatics. Open it over the holidays with a rare filet mignon and a small group of people you care about. A simple recipe is included on this page if you want to go full French bistro with it!