Winemaker Notes
Blend: 65% Merlot, 30% Cabernet Franc, 5% Cabernet Sauvignon
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Quite a fresh, mineral and lively St.-Emilion that hooks me with garden herbs, brambleberries and an engaging twist of white pepper. Lots of wet stones and flowers as well. Very structured and compact, this has vibrating, chalky tannins and a broad, lengthy finish. Tight and dense, but freshness and balance are in check.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Aromas of sweet cherries, petals and licorice introduce the 2022 Château Mangot, a medium to full-bodied, dense and layered wine that's suave and multidimensional, its concentrated core of lively fruit built around sweet, powdery tannins. It's the finest Mangot I've tasted to date, and a decade from now, readers will have a lot of fun including this in blind tastings against more famous names.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2022 Château Mangot is based on 65% Merlot, 30% Cabernet Franc, and the rest Cabernet Sauvignon. It's a medium to full-bodied, pure, elegant Saint-Emilion offering lovely red and blue fruits, some subtle sappy herbs, celery seed, floral nuances, fine tannins, and beautiful overall balance. I always find a green, herbaceous edge in these wines, yet this certainly brings beautiful fruit and has plenty to love. I suspect it will evolve for two decades with ease.
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Decanter
Supple and quite tannic, the fleshy but cool tannins are at the fore, filling the mouth with cool salty blackcurrants that is really quite appealing. Unfussy with mineral markers and a good dose of black fruit with mouthwatering acidity. Well delivered but it's missing a bit more vibrancy and push of fruit. Serious, well controlled, precision is there in the bite and edges, it just needs the tannins to soften a little.
Barrel Sample: 90
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.
Marked by its historic fortified village—perhaps the prettiest in all of Bordeaux, the St-Émilion appellation, along with its neighboring village of Pomerol, are leaders in quality on the Right Bank of Bordeaux. These Merlot-dominant red wines (complemented by various amounts of Cabernet Franc and/or Cabernet Sauvignon) remain some of the most admired and collected wines of the world.
St-Émilion has the longest history in wine production in Bordeaux—longer than the Left Bank—dating back to an 8th century monk named Saint Émilion who became a hermit in one of the many limestone caves scattered throughout the area.
Today St-Émilion is made up of hundreds of independent farmers dedicated to the same thing: growing Merlot and Cabernet Franc (and tiny amounts of Cabernet Sauvignon). While always roughly the same blend, the wines of St-Émilion vary considerably depending on the soil upon which they are grown—and the soils do vary considerably throughout the region.
The chateaux with the highest classification (Premier Grand Cru Classés) are on gravel-rich soils or steep, clay-limestone hillsides. There are only four given the highest rank, called Premier Grand Cru Classés A (Chateau Cheval Blanc, Ausone, Angélus, Pavie) and 14 are Premier Grand Cru Classés B. Much of the rest of the vineyards in the appellation are on flatter land where the soils are a mix of gravel, sand and alluvial matter.
Great wines from St-Émilion will be deep in color, and might have characteristics of blackberry liqueur, black raspberry, licorice, chocolate, grilled meat, earth or truffles. They will be bold, layered and lush.