Winemaker Notes
Critical Acclaim
All VintagesThis has fresh savory and bay streaks running through the middle of its core of steeped plum and blackberry fruit flavors, while applewood and iron notes streak the finish. Distinctive wine, with grippy character. Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. Best from 2024 through 2036.
Savory aromas of black olive, dried mushroom, iodine and earth, as well as wild blackberry and clove. It’s medium-bodied with firm, sleek tannins and fresh acidity. Bitter berry notes on the finish. Hint of jam, but turns firm. Better in 2023.
The 2018 Clos Marsalette is another winner, offering a ripe, medium to full-bodied, textured, and already delicious style that carries lots of red and black fruits, tobacco, earth, and a touch of spring flower-like aromas and flavors. Possessing beautiful purity, it has ripe, present tannins, yet they're almost covered by a wealth of fruit and extract. A blend of 55% Cabernet Sauvignon and 45% Merlot, it's well worth seeking out and is going to shine for 15-20 years.
Medium to deep garnet-purple in color, the 2018 Clos Marsalette leaps from the glass with bold notes of stewed black plums, ripe blackberries and mulberries, plus hints of bay leaves, crushed rocks and damp soil. The full-bodied palate delivers mouth-coating black fruits with lovely freshness and loads of earthy accents coming through on the long, plush-textured finish.
Dark fruits, cassis, coffee bean, bitter black chocolate, baked earth and black pepper notes. This majors heavily on oak finessing and is a confident wine with personality. Drinking Window 2024 - 2036
This vineyard sits magnificently on gravelly rises deposited eons ago by the Garonne. Offering a great diversity, the subsoil is composed of marine sediment from the Miocene and Pliocene epochs (5 to 15 million years ago) in the form of shelly sand with a bit of clay, fawn-colored sand, and multi-colored clay.
Clos Marsalette's vineyard which covers an area of 12,30 hectares (for the red wine) plus 1,30 hectares (for the white wine) is also looked after expertly in order to produce a wine reflecting the typicity of this Terroir.
Recognized for its superior reds as well as whites, Pessac-Léognan on the Left Bank claims classified growths for both—making it quite unique in comparison to its neighboring Médoc properties.
Pessac’s Chateau Haut-Brion, the only first growth located outside of the Médoc, is said to have been the first to conceptualize fine red wine in Bordeaux back in the late 1600s. The estate, along with its high-esteemed neighbors, La Mission Haut-Brion, Les Carmes Haut-Brion, Pique-Caillou and Chateau Pape-Clément are today all but enveloped by the city of Bordeaux. The rest of the vineyards of Pessac-Léognan are in clearings of heavily forested area or abutting dense suburbs.
Arid sand and gravel on top of clay and limestone make the area unique and conducive to growing Sémillon and Sauvignon blanc as well as the grapes in the usual Left Bank red recipe: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and miniscule percentages of Petit Verdot and Malbec.
The best reds will show great force and finesse with inky blue and black fruit, mushroom, forest, tobacco, iodine and a smooth and intriguing texture.
Its best whites show complexity, longevity and no lack of exotic twists on citrus, tropical and stone fruit with pronounced floral and spice characteristics.
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.