Winemaker Notes
The unique soil and microclimate are reflected in the wine's personality. Cantemerle has a brilliant color, a powerful bouquet, and a soft, lively flavor. It is rare to find such refined fruitiness. This great wine can be enjoyed young, when its charming, fruity, and marked by a vanilla taste which comes from well-integrated oak.
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
Clean and clear, immediately quite sleek and focused on the palate. Ripe and round but maintains direction from start to finish with succulence and supple fruit. Very lovely and very drinkable, clean and clear with balance and harmony. Dark fruit, cool freshness, mouthwatering acidity, slight graphite and flint touches and really well worked tannins. Impressive. Will be very enjoyable and easy to drink.
Barrel Sample: 94 -
James Suckling
Perfumed, with aromas of smoke, currants, grilled citrus, dried flowers and roasted herbs. Juicy and firm on the palate, with a medium to full body and a fruit-forward finish that shows herbal freshness at the end. Already approachable, but should get better in two more years.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2022 Cantemerle offers up attractive aromas of minty blackberries, blueberries and licorice, followed by a medium to full-bodied, broad and ample palate that's layered and textural, with a rich core of fruit largely concealing plenty of youthfully firm structuring tannin. A blend of 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot, 5% Petit Verdot and 5% Cabernet Franc, this is a strong effort for this estate, situated on fine gravel soils in the southern Médoc. Rating:-92+
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Jeb Dunnuck
These carry to a medium-bodied, balanced, incredibly charming wine that has fine tannins, a layered, elegant mouthfeel, and outstanding length,The blend is 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot, and 5% each Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot.
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Vinous
The 2022 Cantemerle presents a relatively light but defined nose with notes of blackberry, wild hedgerow and a touch of undergrowth emerging with aeration. The medium-bodied palate features chewy tannins on the entry and a bit of rusticity, yet it offers a pleasant, lightly spiced finish.
One of the world’s most classic and popular styles of red wine, Bordeaux-inspired blends have spread from their homeland in France to nearly every corner of the New World. Typically based on either Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot and supported by Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot, the best of these are densely hued, fragrant, full of fruit and boast a structure that begs for cellar time. Somm Secret—Blends from Bordeaux are generally earthier compared to those from the New World, which tend to be fruit-dominant.
While it claims the same basic landscape as the Medoc—only every so slightly elevated above river level—the Haut Medoc is home to all of the magnificent chateaux of the Left Bank of Bordeaux, creating no lack of beautiful sites to see.
These chateaux, residing over the classed-growth cru in the villages of Margaux, Moulis, Listrac, St-Julien, Pauillac and St. Estephe are within the Haut Medoc appellation. Though within the confines of these villages, any classed-growth chateaux will most certainly claim village or cru status on their wine labels.
Interestingly, some classed-growth cru of the Haut Medoc fall outside of these more famous villages and can certainly be a source of some of the best values in Bordeaux. Deep in color, and concentrated in ripe fruit and tannins, these wines (typically Cabernet Sauvignon-based) often prove the same aging potential of the village classed-growths. Among these, the highest ranked chateaux are Chateau La Lagune and Chateau Cantemerle.