Winemaker Notes
A harmonious, generous wine, characterized, like Château de La Dauphine itself, by elegance and complexity. Produced with the vines that grow on the hillsides, this wine is aged for 12 months in French oak barrels with 30% renewed each year, and has a substantial capacity to improve further with age.
Pair with roast chicken, beef bourguignon, and black forest cake.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
I clearly misjudged the 2018 Château La Dauphine on release, and this was a fabulous showing. Still deep ruby/purple-hued, it boasts full-bodied aromas and flavors of ripe black fruits, smoke tobacco, chocolate, and loamy earthy, with a ripe, expansive mouthfeel balanced by velvety tannins. It's a brilliant Fronsac well worth readers time and money to track down. It should have another decade of prime drinking!
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James Suckling
This youthful and fruit-forward red has notes of fresh plums, mulberries and violets. It’s medium-bodied, creamy and broad, with chalky and still chewy tannins. 85% merlot and 15% cabernet franc. From organically grown grapes. Best from 2027.
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.
Home of the very first remarkable Right Bank wines, dating back to the 1730s, Fronsac and Canon-Fronsac actually retained more fame than Pomerol well into the 19th century. Today these wines represent some of Bordeaux’s best hidden gems.
Fronsac is a very small region at an unusually high elevation compared to other Bordeaux appellations. Its vineyards unroll along the oak-dotted hills bordering the river’s edge, making it perhaps Bordeaux’s prettiest and most majestic countryside.
Merlot covers 60% of the vineyard acreage; the rest of the vines are Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon. The Fronsac and Canon-Fronsac appellations are limited to the higher land where soils are predominantly limestone and sandstone. Lower vineyards along the Dordogne River mainly qualify for Bordeaux AOC status
The best Fronsac are deeply concentrated in ripe red and black berry; they have a solid mineral backbone and are rich and plush on the finish.