Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2010 Château D'Armailhac, a spicy, complex, beautifully perfumed Pauillac based on 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 23% Merlot, and the rest Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. Ripe red and black fruits, saddle leather, flowery incense, and spicy, chocolaty nuances all give way to a ripe, medium to full-bodied Armailhac that has sweet, polished tannins, a balanced mouthfeel, and a great finish.
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James Suckling
Polished and very fine with pretty fruit and berry structure. Full and silky with a delicious finish. It's so good now to drink but has depth and structure. Drink or hold.
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Wine Spectator
Dense, juicy and inviting, with bouncy briar, blackberry, steeped black currant and melted black licorice notes framed by roasted apple wood and graphite notes. The finish courses along with good definition. Energetic and tempting, but the gripping, iron-laden finish will benefit from cellaring.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Deep garnet in color, the 2010 D'Armailhac leaps from the glass with vivacious scents of baked raspberries, blueberry pie and kirsch plus hints of candied violets and pencil shavings. Medium to full-bodied, the palate has lovely energy with a lively backbone and well-played chewy tannins supporting the delicate flavors, finishing minerally.
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.