Varietal: Bordeaux Blend | Location: France - Bordeaux - Haut-Médoc
WS 88
WA 89
We've been following Belle-Vue for years and this is another great one. It has a dark purple color and an exotic and spicy nose with a hint of vanilla. The tannins are dense, but sweet and round. It has excellent concentration of fruit. (tasted twice) CW Wine Staff (April 2011)
Varietal: Bordeaux Blend | Location: France - Bordeaux - Haut-Médoc
WA 89
This blend of 60% Merlot and 40% Cabernet Sauvignon is one of the best wines to yet come from this estate, owned by the proprietors of Pichon Lalande in Pauillac. Juicy, succulent, cedary black currant fruit intermixed with licorice, herbs and spice box are very pure, authoritative and substantial. Dark ruby/purple, medium to full-bodied and delicious, this wine should be drunk over the next 10-15 years. A sleeper.
Varietal: Bordeaux Blend | Location: France - Bordeaux - Haut-Médoc
WA 91
Readers looking for the more ethereal, elegant side of Bordeaux need search no further than Cantemerle, one of the estates in the very southern end of the Medoc. Dense ruby/purple (nearly opaque), this wine offers up notes of lead pencil shavings, spring flowers, raspberries and black cherries. The wine is ethereal, medium-bodied, and by no means a blockbuster, but long and intellectual. However, the tannins are present, and the wine is certainly capable of putting on weight with time in the bottle. Give it 3-4 years of bottle age and drink it over the following 25+ years.
Varietal: Bordeaux Blend | Location: France - Bordeaux - Haut-Médoc
This property is a real hidden "gem", just a stone's throw away from the St. Julien appellation and stars such as Lagrange and Gruaud Larose. We're happy to keep the secret because it means more wine for us! Owner Francois Nony, whom we got to visit with during our recent trip to Bordeaux, delivers a great 2009. A blackcurrant and cassis-like nose leads to a classic Medoc earthy finish. This wine is well-balanced with a freshness of fruit that is a hallmark of this vintage. It should age well for 5-10 more years. A real bargain!
Varietal: Bordeaux Blend | Location: France - Bordeaux - Haut-Médoc
This property is a real hidden "gem", just a stone's throw away from the St. Julien appellation and stars such as Lagrange and Gruaud Larose. We're happy to keep the secret because it means more wine for us! Owner Francois Nony, whom we got to visit with during our recent trip to Bordeaux, delivers a great 2009. A blackcurrant and cassis-like nose leads to a classic Medoc earthy finish. This wine is well-balanced with a freshness of fruit that is a hallmark of this vintage. It should age well for 5-10 more years. A real bargain!
Varietal: Bordeaux Blend | Location: France - Bordeaux - Haut-Médoc
This property is a real hidden "gem", just a stone's throw away from the St. Julien appellation and stars such as Lagrange and Gruaud Larose. We're happy to keep the secret because it means more wine for us! Owner Francois Nony, whom we got to visit with during our recent trip to Bordeaux, delivers a great 2009. A blackcurrant and cassis-like nose leads to a classic Medoc earthy finish. This wine is well-balanced with a freshness of fruit that is a hallmark of this vintage. It should age well for 5-10 more years. A real bargain!
Varietal: Bordeaux Blend | Location: France - Bordeaux - Haut-Médoc
This property is a real hidden "gem", just a stone's throw away from the St. Julien appellation and stars such as Lagrange and Gruaud Larose. We're happy to keep the secret because it means more wine for us! Owner Francois Nony, whom we got to visit with during our recent trip to Bordeaux, delivers a great 2009. A blackcurrant and cassis-like nose leads to a classic Medoc earthy finish. This wine is well-balanced with a freshness of fruit that is a hallmark of this vintage. It should age well for 5-10 more years. A real bargain!
Varietal: Bordeaux Blend | Location: France - Bordeaux - Haut-Médoc
Our friend, owner Francois Nony, just keeps raising the bar at Caronne! A perennial winner, his 2010 has a nice bit of blackcurrant in the nose, with well-integrated, ripe tannins. There are attractive Medoc earth flavors that carry through into a long and elegant finish. (tasted twice including once at the chateau) -- CW Wine Staff (April 2011)
Varietal: Bordeaux Blend | Location: France - Bordeaux - Haut-Médoc
WA 90
Another fabulous sleeper of the vintage, the 2005 Charmail is a blend of 45% Merlot, 35% Cabernet Sauvignon, and the rest Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. There are 10,000 cases of this exquisite, sexy, deep purple-hued effort. It displays plenty of creme de cassis notes intermixed with notions of licorice, charcoal, and cedar, sweet fruit, round, ripe tannins, an endearing opulence, and a long finish. Drink it over the next decade.Another fabulous sleeper of the vintage, the 2005 Charmail is a blend of 45% Merlot, 35% Cabernet Sauvignon, and the rest Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. There are 10,000 cases of this exquisite, sexy, deep purple-hued effort. It displays plenty of creme de cassis notes intermixed with notions of licorice, charcoal, and cedar, sweet fruit, round, ripe tannins, an endearing opulence, and a long finish. Drink it over the next decade. -- Robert Parker