Winemaker Notes
Blend: 70% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Franc, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
This is a ripe, fruity wine with its black-currant fruit and balanced sweet tannins. It has a fine elegant texture and juicy acidity. All these elements promise a wine that will be delicious to drink from 2019. The daughters of owners Bernadette Faure and Alain Aubert oversee vineyards, winemaking and marketing.Editors' Choice
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James Suckling
Plenty of espresso flavors, dark fruit and hints of dried flowers. The palate is medium-to full-bodied with a lovely core of fruit, accessible tannins and a clean, lovely finish. Drink now or hold.
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Wine Spectator
Frankly toasty, sporting a mocha frame around a core of warmed plum and blackberry confiture notes. Light tobacco and licorice accents fill in on the finish, where the toast still holds sway. This has the fruit. For fans of the style. Best from 2018 through 2024. Tasted twice, with consistent notes.
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.
Though the region is larger than many of its Right Bank neighbors, it is one that consistently produces high quality, well-valued red wines. In fact, Cotes de Castillon can almost be considered a geographical eastern extension of St. Emilion, producing similarly-fashioned reds based on Merlot.
Vineyards in the region’s clay, limestone and sandstone soils produce sturdy red wines. On alluvial terraces, in vineyards closer to the Dordogne River, wines tend to be more supple and fruity. In either case, a great Cotes de Castillon red will be bursting with raspberry, plum and blueberry, have an enticing bouquet of dried flowers and a finish that is plush and opulent.