Winemaker Notes
Blend: 90% Merlot, 7% Cabernet Sauvignon, 3% Cabernet Franc
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Quite floral, this shows a wealth of very ripe plums and black cherries. The tannins are powerful with a thread of spicy cinnamon-infused oak. Rippling with power. Yet ever so refined and beautiful. Try around 2025.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The finest vintage I’ve tasted from this estate, the 2015 Château Sansonnet is a deep, full-bodied, opulent beauty with notes of chocolaty dark fruits, leafy herbs and lots of graphite. Possessing a wealth of fruit and sweet, yet building tannin, this thick, beautifully layered wine is an awesome effort that will keep for 15+ years. The lieu-dit Sansonnet lies just east of the village of Saint-Emilion and covers 6.96 hectares. It was purchased by Marie and Christophe Lefévère in 2009 and this 2015 is 90% Merlot, 7% Cabernet Sauvignon and 3% Cabernet Franc, aged 16 months in 80% new oak.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2015 Sansonnet is composed of 90% Merlot, 7% Cabernet Sauvignon and 3% Cabernet Franc aged for 16 months in French oak, 80% new. Deep garnet-purple with a nose of crushed blackberries, plum preserves and beef drippings with touches of sautéed herbs and tapenade, the full-bodied palate has loads of concentration and energy with a firm, velvety frame and long finish.
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Wine Enthusiast
Big, ripe and packed with tannins, this is a dense wine. The concentration is palpable, rich with black plum and berry fruits. This powerful wine with its great tannins and fruit needs to age. Drink from 2025.
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Wine Spectator
A ripe, muscular, extracted style, with lots of warm fig, raspberry and blackberry confiture flavors wrestling with one another. Shows a brambly imprint on the fruit, and a grippy undertow of roasted apple wood adds to the heft. Features some cut, but this remains a touch shy on refinement in the end. Best from 2023 through 2035.
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Decanter
Perfumed florals, bright cherries and plums with hints of vanilla, well-furnished tannins and a fleshy, ripe texture. Drinking Window 2022 - 2036
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.