Winemaker Notes
Blend: 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 47% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
The vineyards of the beautiful medieval chateau of d’Agassac have produced a firmly structured, fruity, black-currant-flavored wine. It’s fragrant and packed with acidity, boasting tannins that suggest aging over many years.
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Wine & Spirits
Located in Ludon, east of the D2 in the southern Médoc, this ancient château produced an old-fashioned claret in 2010. It’s rustic at first, showing some sulfur and Brett. Give it time and the clarity of the fruit evolves along with the wine’s earthy character. A light, refreshing red to decant for seared duck breast.Carbonnier Communications
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Wine Spectator
Sappy and energetic, with licorice snap, plum pâte de fruit and dark cassis notes coursing along, all fueled by a graphite spine that drives the focused 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.