Winemaker Notes
After a wet winter, spring was cool and increasingly dry, followed by a hot summer punctuated by showers as we got closer to the harvest period. A complicated vintage in short, where the attention had to be permanent in order to harvest splendid Merlot and Cabernets of great nobility. The wine of Château Potensac presents a classic blend, and remains dense and refined. without ever losing the magnificent mineral tension.
Blend: 47% Merlot, 36% Cabernet Sauvignon, 16% Cabernet Franc, 1% Petit Verdot
The Barrel Sample for this wine is above 14% ABV.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Bright, with crushed-stone and floral character on the nose. Medium body with a firm core, expanding through the palate. Vivid and bright. Lots of good energy. Crushed-stone and lightly chalky character at the end. Needs two or three years to come around.
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Decanter
Elegance and classicism , really feel that you are in good hands in a great claret property. The fruit is ripe and yet fresh, there are quite a lot of tannins that come in on the finish, along with an earthy unfusiness. This is enjoyable, it's closed and should remain so for the next three to four years. The 2018 will give more immediate pleasure, but this will amply reward just a little more patience. 1% Petit Verdot completes the blend.
Barrel Sample: 92 -
Jeb Dunnuck
Lots of black cherries, currants, ripe tobacco, and cedar notes emerge from the 2019 Château Potensac, a medium-bodied, concentrated, beautifully pure, elegant Médoc that's well worth seeking out. It's going to continue to drink nicely for 10-15 years. Best After 2022
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Always a dependable bottling, the 2019 Potensac opens in the glass with aromas of dark berries, cherries and pencil shavings. Medium to full-bodied, fleshy and nicely concentrated, with lively acids and powdery tannins, the vintage has made for an unusually polished Potensac that will offer a broad drinking window. Best After 2025
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.
One of the most—if not the most—famous red wine regions of the world, the Medoc reaches from the city of Bordeaux northwest along the left bank of the Gironde River almost all the way to the Atlantic. Its vineyards climb along a band of flatlands, sandwiched between the coastal river marshes and the pine forests in the west. The entire region can only claim to be three to eight miles wide (at its widest), but it is about 50 miles long.
While the Medoc encompasses the Haut Medoc, and thus most of the classed-growth villages (Margaux, Moulis, Listrac, St-Julien, Pauillac and St. Estephe) it is really only those wines produced in the Bas-Medoc that use the Medoc appellation name. The ones farther down the river, and on marginally higher ground, are eligible to claim the Haut Medoc appellation, or their village or cru status.
While the region can’t boast a particularly dramatic landscape, impressive chateaux disperse themselves among the magically well-drained gravel soils that define the area. This optimal soil draining capacity is completely necessary and ideal in the Medoc's damp, maritime climate. These gravels also serve well to store heat in cooler years.