Winemaker Notes
The wine is garnet red with a crimson tint. The generous and expansive nose opens on aromas of fresh, juicy, creamy fruit, then with airing reveals bilberry notes set off by intense touches of pepper, liquorice, and vanilla, giving the wine an enticing feel. The dense and full-bodied attack extends into the mid-palate, imparting an appealing impression of harmonious sweetness. Nascent oak emerges on smooth and well-structured tannins, accompanied by flavours reminiscent of the nose. The initial intensity of the fresh fruit flavors extends into the long and persistent finish.
Blend: 68% Cabernet Sauvignon, 22% Merlot, 7% Cabernet Franc and 3% Petit Verdot
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
This is still quite youthful, with dark fruit and graphite aromas. Almost full-bodied, with tight tannins and a very long finish. Vertical, with slightly granular tannins. 68% cabernet sauvignon, 22% merlot, 7% cabernet franc and 3% petit verdot.
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Wine Spectator
Dark in profile but very fresh, with a racy beam of black currant and black cherry fruit that bristles with energy, flanked by a well-honed graphite edge and backed by sweet tobacco and singed alder notes throughout. A crackling Pauillac that's built for the cellar. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. Best from 2023 through 2038.
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Jeb Dunnuck
I loved the 2017 Chateau D'Armailhac, which is a blend of 68% Cabernet Sauvignon, 22% Merlot, 7% Cabernet Franc, and 3% Petit Verdot brought up 16 months in 40% new French oak. It has good ripeness and depth, medium to full body, and terrific notes of cassis, toasted spice, lead pencil, and violets. This classic, ripe, sexy 2017 that has a good spine of acidity and a great finish, all making for a brilliant Pauillac that’s going to benefit from just short term cellaring and keep for 15-20 years.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Medium to deep garnet-purple colored, the 2017 D'Armailhac comes bounding out of the glass with bold notions of baked plums, redcurrant jelly and crème de cassis plus wafts of violets, dark chocolate and fragrant earth. Medium-bodied, the palate bursts with energetic red and black fruits, framed by ripe, grainy tannins and oodles of freshness, finishing long and vibrant. Rating: 92+
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Wine Enthusiast
This ripe, juicy wine offers good acidity and plenty of blackberry flavors. It reflects the freshness of the vintage, giving a lift to both the tannins and the rich fruitiness. The wine finishes with a touch of chocolate and freshness. Drink the wine from 2023.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: The 2017 Château d'Armailhac delivers an excellent claret experience. TASTING NOTES: This wine shines with aromas and flavors of bold yet well-constructed black fruit and oaky notes. Enjoy this with a nicely-grilled entrecôte top with diced shallots. (Tasted: January 24, 2020, San Francisco, CA)
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Decanter
Pure yet plushly-textured blueberry and damson fruits, get a little dip through the mid palate, but recovers with plenty of redcurrant and raspberry notes, backed up by cedar and spice, all carefully extracted and constructed. Perky, it grows on me, not huge persistency but lots to enjoy. 35% new oak.
An 1855 Classified Growth, Château d’Armailhac is bordered to the north by Château Mouton Rothschild. It has 76 hectares (187 acres) of south-facing vines with an average age of 40 years, stretching over three gravel banks that embrace all the typical features of the Pauillac appellation.
The terroir, mostly comprising deep gravel, clay or clay-limestone and gravelly sand, is planted with classic Médoc grape varieties: Cabernet Sauvignon (55%), Merlot (35%), Cabernet Franc (8%) and Petit Verdot (2%).
The Cabernet Franc vines, which have an average age of 60 years, are mostly planted on the Plateau des Levantines, an ideal terroir in which they can put down deep roots. Derived from ancestral massal selections, these remarkable Cabernet Francs make up a relatively high proportion of the blend and are a hallmark of the wine.
Château d’Armailhac takes its name from the d’Armailhacq family who purchased the estate in 1660. Its history is bound up with that of pioneers of modern winegrowing such as Armand d’Armailhac.
The estate was acquired by Baron Philippe de Rothschild (1902-1988) in 1933, then inherited by his daughter Philippine de Rothschild (1933-2014). It now belongs to her three children, Camille and Philippe Sereys de Rothschild and Julien de Beaumarchais de Rothschild, who, with passion and the same attachment to the terroir, continue the family’s quest for excellence and innovation in the vineyard and winery.
Château d’Armailhac is a fine wine, typical of the Pauillac appellation, with an elegant classicism regardless of the vintage, and a robust and refined tannic structure.
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.