Chateau Cantemerle 2015

Chateau Cantemerle, 5eme Cru Classé, Haut-Medoc, Bordeaux, France, 2015

Grapes: 59% Cabernet Sauvignon, 27% Merlot, 8% Cabernet Franc, 6% Petit Verdot, hand picked and sorted. Average vine age 30 years. The vineyards (91ha) are located just south of Chateau Giscours in Margaux, on a mixture of silica and deep gravel soils. Destemmed fruit. Aged for 12 months in French oak (40% new barrels).

It would be difficult to find a more classically Médoc wine than this great Cantemerle, with its sustained power and refined elegance. A very deep colour and subtle aromas underscore its youth. Once in the mouth, this rich and full-bodied wine releases notes of coffee, olives and liquorice which are emphasized by an opulent and harmonious length. A fine wine which marries fullness and delicacy, while avoiding heaviness and excessive oak. It’s the perfect expression of a balanced Bordeaux which gives voice to a great terroir. This wine has a promising future, and already offers great satisfaction.

"It offers plenty of blackberry and raspberry fruit on the nose, not the best defined that I encountered among the Haut-Médocs, but with plenty of "stuffing." The palate is medium-bodied with supple red and black fruit on the entry matched with a fine thread of acidity. There is a pleasing crescendo in the mouth driven by that Merlot content and it finishes with some swagger. This is a very fine Cantemerle exuding joie-de-vivre that I can see doling out plenty of drinking pleasure over the next decade and beyond. Tasted thrice with consistent notes." (90-92) points, Neal Martin, Wine Advocate, April 2016

Also awarded 2* (out of 3*), Le Guide Hachette des Vins

Food matching: All meat and poultry, as well as alpine cheeses.