Winemaker Notes
The Chateau Dalem 2019 is a complex, juicy and very elegant wine, product of the great work carried out in the winery to enhance the freshness of the fruit.
Blend: 90% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
Readers looking for a smoking deal in the vintage should grab bottles of the 2019 Château Dalem. This rich, medium to full-bodied, mouth-filling effort has lots of ripe darker cherry and blackberry fruit as well as tobacco, cedar pencil, and violet nuances. Rich, textured, balanced, and with a real sense of purity and class, it's ideal for enjoying over the coming 10-12, if not 15 years or so. Best after 2022.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Deep purple-black colored, the 2019 Dalem needs a few swirls before it really starts to show off all its vibrant black cherries, kirsch and black raspberry scents, followed by hints of camphor, pencil shavings and tobacco leaf. Medium to full-bodied, the palate is chock-full of crunchy black fruits with loads of freshness and perfume and a soft, approachable texture, finishing with a minty kick.
Barrel Sample:92-94 -
James Suckling
Blueberries, minerals, slate and stone. It’s medium-bodied with medium,polished tannins and a linear finish. Nice balance. Lovely length to this.
Barrel Sample:92-93 -
Wine Spectator
Sleek and taut, with chalky threads running along the edges of a core of fresh cherry puree and cassis notes. Features a subtle tobacco accent throughout, with nice cut through the finish. Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. Drink now.
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Decanter
Another good wine from Fronsac here, a little more chocolate and black truffle than some, has a gourmet edge that is well matched by minerality. Overall a seductive feel to this while still wanting to be taken seriously. One to look out for. A yield of 41hl/ha. 80% malo in barrel, 40% new oak.
Barrel Sample:91
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.
Home of the very first remarkable Right Bank wines, dating back to the 1730s, Fronsac and Canon-Fronsac actually retained more fame than Pomerol well into the 19th century. Today these wines represent some of Bordeaux’s best hidden gems.
Fronsac is a very small region at an unusually high elevation compared to other Bordeaux appellations. Its vineyards unroll along the oak-dotted hills bordering the river’s edge, making it perhaps Bordeaux’s prettiest and most majestic countryside.
Merlot covers 60% of the vineyard acreage; the rest of the vines are Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon. The Fronsac and Canon-Fronsac appellations are limited to the higher land where soils are predominantly limestone and sandstone. Lower vineyards along the Dordogne River mainly qualify for Bordeaux AOC status
The best Fronsac are deeply concentrated in ripe red and black berry; they have a solid mineral backbone and are rich and plush on the finish.