Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Barrel sample. This is a big, ripe, fruity wine, filled with smoky wood, spice and black-currant acidity. It is rich and fruit filled.
Barrel Sample: 90-92 Points -
James Suckling
A wine with blueberry and currant character, plus hints of spices and minerals. The polished quality of the tannins is very impressive. Full body, pretty fruit and a silky-textured finish. Needs two or three years to come together completely but shows outstanding potential for the vintage.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
With a supple, soft, lush texture, moderate weight and plenty of sweet strawberry, black cherry and darker fruit as well as a distinctive herbal note, the well-made 2011 De Fieuzal is already seductive. It should drink nicely during its first decade of life.
Barrel Sample: 89-91 Points -
Wine Spectator
Slightly rugged in feel, with pebbly, briary hints along the edges and a core of dark plum skin, steeped currant and tobacco leaf notes. The grippy finish lets the plum skin element take the lead. Best from 2016 through 2021. 6,665 cases made.
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.
Recognized for its superior reds as well as whites, Pessac-Léognan on the Left Bank claims classified growths for both—making it quite unique in comparison to its neighboring Médoc properties.
Pessac’s Chateau Haut-Brion, the only first growth located outside of the Médoc, is said to have been the first to conceptualize fine red wine in Bordeaux back in the late 1600s. The estate, along with its high-esteemed neighbors, La Mission Haut-Brion, Les Carmes Haut-Brion, Pique-Caillou and Chateau Pape-Clément are today all but enveloped by the city of Bordeaux. The rest of the vineyards of Pessac-Léognan are in clearings of heavily forested area or abutting dense suburbs.
Arid sand and gravel on top of clay and limestone make the area unique and conducive to growing Sémillon and Sauvignon blanc as well as the grapes in the usual Left Bank red recipe: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and miniscule percentages of Petit Verdot and Malbec.
The best reds will show great force and finesse with inky blue and black fruit, mushroom, forest, tobacco, iodine and a smooth and intriguing texture.
Its best whites show complexity, longevity and no lack of exotic twists on citrus, tropical and stone fruit with pronounced floral and spice characteristics.