Winemaker Notes
Blend: 75% Merlot, 22% Cabernet Franc, 3% Cabernet Sauvignon
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Ripe, sweet berries with some dried fruit and mushrooms. It’s full-bodied and chewy with plenty of tannins. A little dry at the end, but yummy. Merlot, Cabernet franc and Cabernet sauvignon.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Arguably the bright, shining star of Fronsac these days, this blend of 75% Merlot, 22% Cabernet Franc and the rest Cabernet Sauvignon from vines averaging 25 years of age seems to go from strength to strength. The 2012 is a knock-out, with an inky purple color and sweet cassis and kirsch notes as well as some licorice, mocha and earth. It is medium to full-bodied and concentrated, with silky tannins and a long, long finish. This is outrageously fine wine that sells for a song. It is a major sleeper of the vintage. Drink it over the next 10-12 years.
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Wine Spectator
Fresh, with good cut, as cherry, cherry pit and plum notes race along, lined with violet and chalk accents. Tasted twice, with consistent notes.
Barrel Sample: 88-91 Points
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.