Everything in it's Right Place

Last night I had dinner with a friend at a Moroccan restaurant on Clark Street called Casbah. He had just returned from visiting his family in Bordeaux, part of whom owns a Chateau in Pessac-Leognan called Chateau d’Eyran. Chateau d’Eyran has fifteen hectares of sandy limestone soil in a village named St. Médard d'Eyrans. The vineyard is planted to 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 45% Merlot and 5% Petit Verdot. The same family has owned Chateau d’Eyran since the 18th century and today is made by a man named Stéphane Savigneux. Grapes are hand harvested and aged in oak barrel for one year.
Unfortunately, d’Eyran is not available in Chicago, but my friend brought back a few bottles of 2000, one of which we took to the restaurant.
Upon opening the wine was showing more oak on the nose than I would have liked, but quickly evolved aromatically. About a third of the way through the bottle, fruit and mineral flavors had digested the wood, and by the last glass, the stoney, limestone components were roaring from mid-palate to finish. This was a well-proportioned Bordeaux, at 12.5% alcohol, with good tension between fruit, tannin and eventually, oak. The mid-palate was dense and broad, but avoided clumsy over-extraction, the finish laden with red fruits and Pessac gravel. The wine demonstrated what Bordeaux is at it's best, digestable but captivating and designed with harmony in mind.
For dinner, I ordered skewered lamb chunks over couscous. The meat was savory and tender and typical for me, everything was gone from my plate too quickly. As expected, the wine and lamb were great together, never speaking over the other, but sharing a pleasant, multicultural conversation. I was disappointed when my plate and glass were empty.