Château Gaby Cuvée

The bottle Damien Landouar signs. The cuvée Bordeaux’s own classement put first.

The 2007 Château Gaby Cuvée is made from specially chosen plots and finished by hand. Each bottle is signed and numbered by winemaker Damien Landouar. Production is limited on purpose. This is the wine the maison points to when someone asks what “absolute” means outside the classified growths everyone already knows.

Le Grand Classement des vins de Bordeaux ranked the Gaby Cuvée No. 1 in its 2012 edition and No. 7 in 2014 — the house says “in all of Bordeaux,” and the graphic on the bottle shot credits the 2008 Cuvée with the No. 1 and the 2009 with the No. 7. The 2007 now for sale is a different vintage of that same idea: still firm, still young for its age, tannins in front, red berries waiting behind them. Forbes marks the Cuvée at 95 points on the maison’s own image.

It is not an early drinker. The shop’s note is almost a warning. The tannins dominate. Hints of red berries are all the fruit will give you today. That is the shape of a Canon-Fronsac cuvée built from a small parcel and then left alone. Cellar it, or open it when the table can stand up to structure.