Winemaker Notes
With a beautiful deep color, this Saint-Emilion Grand Cru offers a powerful nose, with aromas of violet, prune, licorice, evolving on spices, truffles and undergrowth. The palate is ample, balanced, long and fruity.
Blend: 65% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Franc, 12% Cabernet Sauvignon, 3% Malbec
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Blackberries and blackcurrants with dried flowers and hints of lemon peel on the nose. Full-bodied yet refined and polished with focus and beauty. Firm and silky tannins. Compact and compressed. Lovely focus and precision.
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Wine Enthusiast
Still young, with vital black fruits over rich tannins, the wine is impressive. Its juicy berry flavors enhance the wine's structure and ripeness. The wine is dense and will continue to develop. Drink from 2024.
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Jeb Dunnuck
Another outstanding wine from this great vintage is the 2016 Château Haut Rocher, which comes from the consulting team of Thomas Duclos and is Merlot and Cabernet Franc brought up in 50% new oak. This ruby/purple-colored effort offers an incredible floral character as well as pretty raspberry and blueberry fruits, hints of damp underbrush, medium body, and light tannins. It’s nicely balanced, has classic Saint-Emilion limestone character, and a great finish, and should easily keep for 15 years.
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.
Marked by its historic fortified village—perhaps the prettiest in all of Bordeaux, the St-Émilion appellation, along with its neighboring village of Pomerol, are leaders in quality on the Right Bank of Bordeaux. These Merlot-dominant red wines (complemented by various amounts of Cabernet Franc and/or Cabernet Sauvignon) remain some of the most admired and collected wines of the world.
St-Émilion has the longest history in wine production in Bordeaux—longer than the Left Bank—dating back to an 8th century monk named Saint Émilion who became a hermit in one of the many limestone caves scattered throughout the area.
Today St-Émilion is made up of hundreds of independent farmers dedicated to the same thing: growing Merlot and Cabernet Franc (and tiny amounts of Cabernet Sauvignon). While always roughly the same blend, the wines of St-Émilion vary considerably depending on the soil upon which they are grown—and the soils do vary considerably throughout the region.
The chateaux with the highest classification (Premier Grand Cru Classés) are on gravel-rich soils or steep, clay-limestone hillsides. There are only four given the highest rank, called Premier Grand Cru Classés A (Chateau Cheval Blanc, Ausone, Angélus, Pavie) and 14 are Premier Grand Cru Classés B. Much of the rest of the vineyards in the appellation are on flatter land where the soils are a mix of gravel, sand and alluvial matter.
Great wines from St-Émilion will be deep in color, and might have characteristics of blackberry liqueur, black raspberry, licorice, chocolate, grilled meat, earth or truffles. They will be bold, layered and lush.