Winemaker Notes
Blend: 58% Cabernet Sauvignon, 39% Merlot, 3% Petit Verdot
Professional Ratings
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Vinous
The 2020 Croizet-Bages is a very pretty, aromatic Pauillac. Crushed flowers, sweet red berry fruit, dried herbs, incense and rose petal are all beautifully lifted. Nervy tannins need time to soften, but all elements are nicely balanced. I especially admire the energy and understated persistence here.
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James Suckling
Blackcurrants, blackberries, and wet earth. Some walnut. Medium to full body. Chewy. Flavorful. Fine-textured tannins. Best after 2025.
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Wine Enthusiast
Showing plenty of black currant fruits, this wine continues the improvements at this estate over recent years. Juicy, crunchy fruit flavor and plenty of acidity supplement tannins that come from the heart of the fruit. The wine has good medium-term potential.
Barrel Sample: 91-93 -
Jeb Dunnuck
A little bit of an under-the-radar Pauillac, the 2020 Château Croizet-Bages exbibits attractive aromatics of sweet currants, cherries, new saddle leather, and cedar pencil. These carry to a medium-bodied, nicely balanced, elegant 2020 with ripe, polished tannins, terrific balance, and outstanding length.
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.
The leader on the Left Bank in number of first growth classified producers within its boundaries, Pauillac has more than any of the other appellations, at three of the five. Chateau Lafite Rothschild and Mouton Rothschild border St. Estephe on its northern end and Chateau Latour is at Pauillac’s southern end, bordering St. Julien.
While the first growths are certainly some of the better producers of the Left Bank, today they often compete with some of the “lower ranked” producers (second, third, fourth, fifth growth) in quality and value. The Left Bank of Bordeaux subscribes to an arguably outdated method of classification that goes back to 1855. The finest chateaux in that year were judged on the basis of reputation and trading price; changes in rank since then have been miniscule at best. Today producers such as Chateau Pontet-Canet, Chateau Grand Puy-Lacoste, Chateau Lynch-Bages, among others (all fifth growth) offer some of the most outstanding wines in all of Bordeaux.
Defining characteristics of fine wines from Pauillac (i.e. Cabernet-based Bordeaux Blends) include inky and juicy blackcurrant, cedar or cigar box and plush or chalky tannins.
Layers of gravel in the Pauillac region are key to its wines’ character and quality. The layers offer excellent drainage in the relatively flat topography of the region allowing water to run off into “jalles” or streams, which subsequently flow off into the Gironde.