For Bordeaux, this is a great value, a really delicious wine made by the inimitable Michel Rolland who has owned this right bank estate since 1986.
Heady fumes of blackberry jam, chocolate, damp leaves, cedar and violets are expressive and well focused. Spice notes of nutmeg and clove play in the background.
It features a full bodied palate with lovely rich fruit up front. The fruit fades into a more minerally midpalate with the trademark gravel notes laced with very dark chocolate. Firm, slightly bitter tannins anchor the long finish which is freshened by tangy acidity and brush strokes of orange zest at terminus.
Classic Bordeaux table wine has a gutsy, resolute earthiness and taut, sinewy strength that pairs well with the blues. This wine has all that but is more seductive, a surge of warmth, glowing with desire. It paired beautifully with Fine Young Cannibals’ “She Drives Me Crazy”.
Notes: Some whole cluster fermentation. Aged in 60% new French oak. Mostly Merlot with some Cabernet Franc.
Score: 93
Price: $30
Alc: 15%
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