Winemaker Notes
This 2022 vintage is quite simply extraordinary. Balance, rich tannins, aromatic expression (black fruit) and freshness are the watchwords here. Gentle extraction during fermentation was undoubtedly key to revealing the quintessential characteristics of each grape variety.
Blend: 60% Merlot, 40% Cabernet Sauvignon
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Hazelnut-chocolate and cedar to the black cherries and cassis. A touch of paprika and white pepper as well. This is ripe, fleshy and well structured with polished tannins and a long, nicely creamy finish. Give it one more year to let the wood integrate more.
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Wine Enthusiast
The wine, still very young, has spicy, toasty aromas and layers of black fruits. It is going to be a fine wine, rich and full bodied. The acidity will soften as the wine matures. Drink from 2027.
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Wine Spectator
A solid, dark, winey offering, with blackberry and black currant reduction notes cloaked in licorice root and roasted alder. Keeps a fleshy feel, with a twinge of pleasant rusticity through the finish. Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Best from 2025 through 2035.
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.
An icon of balance and tradition, St. Julien boasts the highest proportion of classed growths in the Médoc. What it lacks in any first growths, it makes up in the rest: five amazing second growth chateaux, two superb third growths and four well-reputed fourth growths. While the actual class rankings set in 1855 (first, second, and so on the fifth) today do not necessarily indicate a score of quality, the classification system is important to understand in the context of Bordeaux history. Today rivalry among the classed chateaux only serves to elevate the appellation overall.
One of its best historically, the estate of Leoville, was the largest in the Médoc in the 18th century, before it was divided into the three second growths known today as Chateau Léoville-Las-Cases, Léoville-Poyferré and Léoville-Barton. Located in the north section, these are stone’s throw from Chateau Latour in Pauillac and share much in common with that well-esteemed estate.
The relatively homogeneous gravelly and rocky top soil on top of clay-limestone subsoil is broken only by a narrow strip of bank on either side of the “jalle,” or stream, that bisects the zone and flows into the Gironde.
St. Julien wines are for those wanting subtlety, balance and consistency in their Bordeaux. Rewarding and persistent, the best among these Bordeaux Blends are full of blueberry, blackberry, cassis, plum, tobacco and licorice. They are intense and complex and finish with fine, velvety tannins.