Winemaker Notes
Deep, dense color with glints of violet. Very pleasant nose of black fruit. Notes of Morello cherry and mocha develop easily with aeration. On the palate, the attack is refined, elegant, dense and structured. There is plenty of volume, but the wine remains balanced. The finish is full-bodied, thanks to the well-ripened tannins of this exceptional vintage.
Blend: 61% Merlot, 39% Cabernet Franc
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A dense and layered second wine of L’Evangile with gorgeous richness and chocolate, spice and berry character to frame the full body on the palate. Nutty undertones. Wet earth, too. Hell of a wine.
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Wine Enthusiast
Most of the Cabernet Franc from this estate went into this wine, giving it a super-perfumed character while keeping its tannins intact. It is richly endowed, firm with a generous structure and impressive for a second wine.
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Decanter
This is full of softly burnished, late summer fruit. The oak is a little more evident than with the grand vin but the tannins are soft and smiling, and the feel is one of open enjoyment. There's no need to wait beyond the next three to five years to begin drinking this. It has a high proportion of Cabernet Franc because there are so many young vines on the property, which also accounts for why this is taking on the oak fairly strongly at this point.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Deep garnet-purple colored, the 2015 Blason de l'Evangile—a blend of 61% Merlot and 39% Cabernet Franc—has a nose redolent of warm plums, baking spices, Christmas cake and mincemeat pie with touches of chocolate box and aniseed. Medium to full-bodied, the palate is laden with spicy black fruits, supported by soft, velvety tannins and great freshness, finishing long with some earthy layers coming through.
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.
A source of exceptionally sensual and glamorous red wines, Pomerol is actually a rather small appellation in an unassuming countryside. It sits on a plateau immediately northeast of the city of Libourne on the right bank of the Dordogne River. Pomerol and St-Émilion are the stars of what is referred to as Right Bank Bordeaux: Merlot-dominant red blends completed by various amounts of Cabernet Franc or Cabernet Sauvignon. While Pomerol has no official classification system, its best wines are some of the world’s most sought after.
Historically Pomerol attached itself to the larger and more picturesque neighboring region of St-Émilion until the late 1800s when discerning French consumers began to recognize the quality and distinction of Pomerol on its own. Its popularity spread to northern Europe in the early 1900s.
After some notable vintages of the 1940s, the Pomerol producer, Petrus, began to achieve great international attention and brought widespread recognition to the appellation. Its subsequent distribution by the successful Libourne merchant, Jean-Pierre Mouiex, magnified Pomerol's fame after the Second World War.
Perfect for Merlot, the soils of Pomerol—clay on top of well-drained subsoil—help to create wines capable of displaying an unprecedented concentration of color and flavor.
The best Pomerol wines will be intensely hued, with qualities of fresh wild berries, dried fig or concentrated black plum preserves. Aromas may be of forest floor, sifted cocoa powder, anise, exotic spice or toasted sugar and will have a silky, smooth but intense texture.