Winemaker Notes
Blend: 75% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc
The Barrel Sample for this wine is above 14% ABV.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2019 Château Saint-Pierre (Saint Julien) checks in as 79% Cabernet Sauvignon and 21% Merlot. It's a big, rich, powerful wine loaded with notions of blackcurrants, smoked earth, chocolate, and violet notes. It shows more elegance on the palate and is medium to full-bodied, has beautiful tannins, and a terrific sense of freshness and purity. It's going to need 4-6 years of bottle age yet will drink well for 30 years or more.
Barrel Sample:94-96 -
James Suckling
Very pretty and typical for the appellation with aromas of blackcurrants, violets and sandalwood that follow through to a full body with layers of polished tannins and a long, flavorful finish. Lasts a long time on the palate. Classic structure.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Very deep purple-black colored, the 2019 Saint-Pierre comes shooting out of the glass with vibrant scents of crushed black and red currants, black raspberries and boysenberries with touches of lavender, tilled soil, pencil shavings and camphor plus a waft of red roses. The medium-bodied palate is charged with energy, featuring densely packed, muscular black and red fruits with a solid frame of ripe, grainy tannins and tons of freshness, finishing long and mineral laced. Make no mistake, this estate is on a roll!
Barrel Sample: (94-96)+ -
Decanter
A powerful St Julien, bedded and knitted down with layers of cassis and bilberry fruits, crushed stone and baked earth, along with a gentler waft of tobacco and black pepper spice. Needs time to open, this is a confident wine with a ton of tannin, and will require a bit of patience but you'll be richly rewarded. 55% new oak.br> Barrel Sample: 95
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Wine Spectator
Ripe and well-built, with a gentle, understated approach stylistically and a rounded feel, as warm earth, sweet tobacco and savory details permeate a core of friendly plum, black cherry and cassis flavors. Features a long iron note, which adds subtle tension through the finish. Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Best from 2024
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.