Winemaker Notes
Château Soutard 2025 is a charming wine! It is elegant. Its nose immediately draws you in with its fruit and makes you want to explore it further. On the palate, it is powerful, well-structured, and has a splendidly long finish. It is a great vintage, and it is a truly exceptional Château Soutard.
Blend: 76% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Franc, 5% Malbec, 4% Cabernet Sauvignon
Professional Ratings
-
Jeb Dunnuck
A Merlot-dominant blend of 76% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Franc, 5% Malbec, and 4% Cabernet Sauvignon, the 2025 Château Soutard is beautiful. Juicy red, blue, and black fruits, graphite, crushed stone, and flowers all define the aromatics of this quintessential, medium to full-bodied, concentrated 2025. On the palate, it has ripe tannins and a great finish. It's going to spend 15 months in 50% new barrels with the balance in once-used barrels and foudre.
Barrel Sample: 94-96 -
James Suckling
A tight and crunchy red with orange peel, berry and cherry aromas and flavors. Medium-bodied, racy and delicious. A very modern young Bordeaux.
Barrel Sample: 94-95 -
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Another superb effort, the 2025 Soutard appears to rival the 2023 and 2022 rendition for the title of the finest wine this estate has produced to date. Unfurling in the glass with aromas of dark berries, cherries and plums mingled with hints of rose and iris, it's medium- to full-bodied, fleshy and enveloping, with lovely purity, refined tannins and a long, penetrating finish.
Barrel Sample: 93-95 -
Vinous
The 2025 Soutard takes all the qualities of this site and dials them up a few notches. Red/purplish fruit, lavender, rose petal and a kick of spice open first, framed by suave, silky tannins that add to an impression of finesse. All the elements are so well balanced. –Antonio Galloni
Barrel Sample: 93-95 -
Decanter
Engaging aromas where ripe plum and dark berry aromas are lifted by a streak of crunchy cranberry freshness. The palate shows a composed, mid-weight profile, never too high-toned, with integrated and unobtrusive tannins at this stage. I like the quiet precision to the structure, suggesting careful extraction and a respect for fruit purity. The élevage, with a measured use of oak, should gradually broaden the mid-palate and lend additional roundness, helping to knit the components together over time. Notably, the wine was served quite cool, which further emphasized its freshness and restraint, yet it still conveyed ample depth and underlying ripeness. Furthermore, the wine achieves a high degree of finesse and balance.
Barrel Sample: 94
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.