Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
So bright and vivid with flowers, orange peel, and currant aromas that follow through to a medium body with ultra-fine tannins and a fresh and vivid finish. Purity. You see the cabernet sauvignon clearly. Drink after 2026.
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Wine Spectator
Nicely rendered, this manages to belie the vintage's heat, with a focused and streamlined core of dark currant and blackberry fruit studded with licorice snap, violet, alder and tobacco notes along the way. Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2020 Clos Marsalette is clearly outstanding, with terrific red and black fruits as well as some earthy truffle and spicy, tobacco-driven aromatics. Based on 58% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot, and the rest Cabernet Franc, this medium to full-bodied, silky, textured 2020 is going to over-deliver over the coming 15+ years.
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Decanter
Soft grilled oak notes on the nose, this has the glamour of Clos Marsalette, beautifully expressed with a touch of bitter coffee on the finish that adds balance. Concentrated and intense, with 22hl/ha yield coming through in the depth of flavour, balanced by touches of eucalyptus and spice. 35% new oak. Tasted twice.
Barrel Sample: 92 -
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2020 Clos Marsalette offers up rich aromas of dark berries, cherries, smoked meats and rich spices, followed by a medium to full-bodied, broad and fleshy palate that's supple and enveloping, with a generous core of fruit and a savory, carnal finish. Best After 2023.
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.
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.