Winemaker Notes
Blend: 80% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Franc, 5% Cabernet Sauvignon
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Red berry fruit on the nose, with nutmeg, cardamom and bark notes, too. Fresh and spicy on the palate with a medium body, bright acidity and fine, elegant tannins.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Offering up aromas of cherries and berries framed by a generous application of creamy new oak, the 2021 La Vieille Cure is medium to full-bodied, fleshy and ample, with lively acids and a vanillin-inflected finish. It's a creditable effort from this unabashedly modern-styled Fronsac estate. Barrel Sample: 88 - 90?
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Vinous
The 2021 La Vieille Cure offers wild strawberry and raspberry on the nose with just a touch of menthol in the background, well-defined overall. The palate is medium-bodied and well-balanced with fine tannins, closing with a fleshy and persistent mocha-tinged finish. This is maybe not a long-term prospect, but it is very commendable for the vintage. –Neal Martin
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Wine Spectator
Dark currant and cherry notes show a lightly steeped edge, while tobacco and roasted cedar notes weave around. The warm, earth-tinged finish has good flesh for the vintage. Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon. Drink now through 2032.
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.