I am part of the Social Media craze, and I enjoy it.  I have met many people over the years, some that I would enjoy meeting some day and others, just in the real world, I am not crazy about.  My “friends” list is relatively low in numbers, part of which is because I do not ask people to be “friends” and yet people find me.  Then I started writing The Wine Raconteur and I slowly went to other sites of Social Media to advertise my writing.  Then my “friend” list began to grow, especially internationally.  Some people I have become “friends” with on multiple platforms, and others probably wonder what I am doing.  One of the many people that I have encountered and that I enjoy, because she understands the concept of quid pro quo is Nathalie Coipel Cordonnier. 

Nathalie along with John-Baptiste Cordonnier manage Chateau Anthonic located in Moulis-en-Medoc a Commune located next to Listrac and both of these are between two Communes that are famous from the 1855 Classification and that is Margaux and Saint Julien.  Chateau Anthonic is one of the oldest estates in Moulis and were first recorded in 1850 in Guide Feret, then known as Puy de Minjon (Hugon).  It has continued to be esteemed and in the 1932 classification of the Crus Bourgeois of the Medoc is was granted “Cru Bourgeois Supereiur.”  The Chateau is now some thirty hectares in size and has two unique soils that add to the terroir of the Commune, one is the clay-limestone of the Moulis plateau and the other is the Garonne gravel.   The estate has had several names since Puy de Minjon, and then Graves de Queytignan, Le Maliney and then Chateau Antonic in the 1920’s under the stewardship of Antonic Hugon and his son Andre; and then it became Chateau Anthonic, with the addition of the “h” to make it more Anglicized for their largest market at the time.  The logo of two eagles fighting over a cluster of grapes, is considered an allegory of the enmity between négociants and the vine growers.  The estate also has a second label “Les Aigles d’Anthonic” or the Wings of Anthonic.  Pierre Cordonnier bought Chateau Anthonic from the Hugon family in 1977, and John-Baptiste Cordonnier took over in 1993. The estate grows Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot.  In 2016 they became organic and sustainable and a natural haven for bees, butterflies, reptiles and mammals that are common for the area, they also have orchids growing along the vines and waterways, which make it very unique and picturesque. 

By now, some of you are probably scratching your heads and wondering why I am writing all of this, and it is because Nathalie one day asked me, if I had ever had their wine, and I told her that I had never encountered it, so I had presumed that it may not be imported in Michigan, with the Byzantium structure of wine importation here.  I didn’t hear anything more about it, so I had presumed that I was right, but actually I was wrong and she sent me the name of the importer that they deal with in Michigan.  I could not just call the importer, because I do not have a license, so I asked my local wine shop, The Fine Wine Source and they knew the owner of the house and the winery itself and they did it as a favor to me.  I had to send a selfie to Nathalie to show her that I had the wine, and a reminder to myself that I take the world’s worst selfies, in fact I may have to start wondering about men that can take good selfies.  So, I now have Chateau Anthonic Moulis en Medoc 2015, blend of seventy-one percent Merlot, twenty-seven percent Cabernet Sauvignon and two percent Cabernet Franc.  The winery does a soft press and allow twelve months in barrel, and over years they have discovered that around thirty percent new oak works best for them for maintaining the taste that they are after.  They also suggest three hours of decanting especially for their young wines.  I am looking forward to trying this wine out soon, so I can give my own notes for this wine.