Chateau Gruaud Larose· Saint-Julien

"Le roi des vins, le vin des rois", the king of wines, the wine of kings, is the old motto of Gruaud Larose, and the estate has earned the swagger. Founded in 1725 and held today by the Merlaut family, it is a Second Growth that farms eighty-two contiguous hectares in a single block, a rarity in the Médoc.

That unbroken parcel of deep Günzian gravel over clay gives the wine its character: classic Saint-Julien, Cabernet-led, with cedar, graphite and cassis laid over a serious frame. The eighty percent new oak tells you the house aims for the long haul.

I stock it for the cellar more than the table. It is built to be forgotten for a decade and remembered with gratitude.