Winemaker Notes
Impressively rich color. Dazzling fruit flavors and density with structured yet silky wines. A tremendous aromatic richness, ranging from red and black fruit (blackcurrants, redcurrants, raspberries) to a hint of licorice and spicy notes from the Cabernet.
Blend: 85% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Franc
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
Intense fruity expression, more on the black fruit spectrum with dark cherries and plums. Vibrant and highly refreshing. Rich and flavoursome with great depth. The finish is slightly austere but overall has a good balance. Nice oak usage although needs a bit longer to integrate. A great choice for classic Bordeaux at an affordable price.
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James Suckling
Very pretty aromas of crushed berries, such as brambleberries and hints of plums with some wet earth. The palate is full-bodied with layered of ripe yet firm tannins with a surprising amount of energetic acidity. Better in 2024 and onwards, when it will come more together.
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Vinous
The 2019 La Dauphine is a total knock-out. Rich, heady and explosive, La Dauphine possesses terrific energy and tons of volume. Super-ripe dark cherry, plum, tobacco, spice, new leather and chocolate all build in the glass. The 2019 is drop-dead gorgeous. Don't miss it. - Antonio Galloni
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Jeb Dunnuck
Young and unevolved, the 2019 Château La Dauphine offers a ripe, powerful bouquet of smoked red and black fruits as well as tobacco leaf, graphite, and lead pencil. It's beautiful on the palate, offering medium-bodied richness, a balanced, layered mouthfeel, some chalky minerality, and a great finish. This classy, balanced, nicely concentrated 2019 will benefit from just a year or two in the cellar (it drinks just fine today with a decant) and will keep for a decade.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2019 de la Dauphine is a beautiful wine with aromas of black fruit, blackcurrant, blackberry, spice and a touch of oak, followed by a rather dense, massive texture on the palate marked by structuring tannins and a long finish. It can be aged in the cellar for a few more 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.
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.