Winemaker Notes
Blend: 100% Merlot
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
Not shy at all, with ambitious mocha, espresso and baker's chocolate notes leading the way, but they're plush and nicely integrated with the core of dark plum and blackberry sauce notes. Features a solid, grippy, charcoal-filled finish. Frankly modern, but deftly sculpted.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
This sensational 100% Merlot (production is under 1,000 cases) is the flagship and probably best wine made by the outstanding producers of Petit Chateaux Bordeaux, the Despagne family. Lots of toasty, chocolaty notes intermixed with black fruits, mocha, espresso and oak jump from the glass of this modern-styled, in-your-face, wonderfully exuberant and flamboyant Bordeaux.
In most of France, wines are named by their place of origin and not by the type of grape (with the exception of Alsace). Just like a red Burgundy is by law, always made of Pinot noir, a red Bordeaux is a blended wine composed mainly of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Depending on the laws of the village from which the grapes come, the conditions of the vintage and decisions of the winemaker, the blend can be further supported by Cabernet Franc, Malbec, Petit Verdot and in rare cases, Carmenere. So popular and repeated has this mix of grape varieties become worldwide, that the term, Bordeaux Blend, refers to a wine blended in this style, regardless of origin.