Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2022 Clos Du Clocher is a stunning effort, offering red and black fruits, iron, graphite, leafy herbs, and floral violet notes. Full-bodied and concentrated, it has a gorgeous mouthfeel, velvety tannins, and remarkable balance. Seamless and elegant, with very fine tannins.
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James Suckling
Structured and fluffy with a blanket of fine tannins. Full-bodied yet agile and floating. Juicy at the end. Excellent finish. Lots of lead pencil and crushed stone at the end. 45.5% merlot, 44.5% cabernet sauvignon and 10% cabernet franc.
Barrel Sample: 96-96 -
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2022 Clos du Marquis is lovely, unwinding in the glass with notes of inky berries and cherries mingled with attractive floral nuances of rose petals and violets. Medium to full-bodied, velvety and suave, it's layered and concentrated, with a dense and lively core of fruit, beautiful purity and a long, penetrating finish. Rating:-94+
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Wine Spectator
This sports a strapping feel, with blackberry and boysenberry compote notes that show solid, brambly energy, backed by licorice snap and roasted apple wood, while a streak of warm earth runs underneath. Shows the warmth of the vintage, but with good latent energy. Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc.
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.