Winemaker Notes
Blend: 88% Merlot, 12% Cabernet Franc
Professional Ratings
-
James Suckling
Aromas of blackberries and orange peel with some stones follow through to a medium to full body with firm tannins and a creamy-textured finish. 88% merlot and 12% cabernet franc. Drink after 2022.
-
Decanter
Stately and restrained, this has a clear sense of minerality and salinity. An enjoyable wine matured in 33% new oak of both 225' and 500l sizes. Great quality.
-
Jeb Dunnuck
A blend of 88% Merlot and 12% Cabernet Franc brought up in 50% new oak, the 2018 Château La Prade offers a ripe, up-front, impressively textured, medium-bodied style with plenty of darker, blue-tinged fruits, notes of tobacco and cedar, sumptuous, fruit-forward flavors, ripe tannins, and a great finish. This is another undeniably delicious 2018 that's going to drink nicely for 8-10 years.
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Deep garnet-purple in color, the 2018 La Prade (88% Merlot and 12% Cabernet Franc) leaps from the glass with vivacious notes of ripe, juicy black plums, Morello cherries and boysenberries, plus suggestions of crushed rocks, bouquet garni and lavender with an earthy hint of wild mushrooms. The medium to full-bodied palate is chock-full of juicy black fruits, framed by firm, grainy tannins and seamless freshness, finishing long and earthy. A wine with a lot of personality and backbone, it's delicious now but should also cellar gracefully over the next 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.
On the right bank of Bordeaux between St. Emilion and Bergerac, Cotes de Francs boasts southwestern exposed slopes that produce robust Merlot-based wines. A tiny amount of Sémillon is grown and made in both dry and sweet styles.