Cambon la Pelouse Haut-Medoc 2012

Cambon la Pelouse Haut Medoc is produced from a careful selection of the grapes. Made from 50% Merlot, 35% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 15% Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. Limited yield: 45 hl/ha.
Aged in oak barrels for 12 months (50% new oak). Intense ruby/purple color. Delicate aromas of red fruit, liquorice, vanilla and caramel. Ripe fruit flavors, well balanced, great harmonious structure, silky tannins and a good length.

Pairs well with game and red meats, cured cheeses.

Review:

"From an estate right on the border of Margaux, the 2015 Cambon la Pelouse checks in as 50% Merlot, 35% Cabernet Sauvignon, and the rest Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot, all brought up in 35% new barrels. It has beautiful complexity in its spicy oak, cedarwood, and black raspberry and currant aromas and flavors. These all carry to a medium-bodied red that has a seamless, ultra-fine texture, good concentration, and a great finish. It’s a beautiful, incredibly high-quality wine that’s already drinking brilliantly, yet I suspect it will shine for another decade."
- Jeb Dunnuck (March 2019), 91 pts

Cambon la Pelouse Haut Medoc is produced from a careful selection of the grapes. Made from 50% Merlot, 35% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 15% Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. Limited yield: 45 hl/ha.
Aged in oak barrels for 12 months (50% new oak). Intense ruby/purple color. Delicate aromas of red fruit, liquorice, vanilla and caramel. Ripe fruit flavors, well balanced, great harmonious structure, silky tannins and a good length.

Pairs well with game and red meats, cured cheeses.

Review:

"From an estate right on the border of Margaux, the 2015 Cambon la Pelouse checks in as 50% Merlot, 35% Cabernet Sauvignon, and the rest Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot, all brought up in 35% new barrels. It has beautiful complexity in its spicy oak, cedarwood, and black raspberry and currant aromas and flavors. These all carry to a medium-bodied red that has a seamless, ultra-fine texture, good concentration, and a great finish. It’s a beautiful, incredibly high-quality wine that’s already drinking brilliantly, yet I suspect it will shine for another decade."
- Jeb Dunnuck (March 2019), 91 pts

Trois Moulins Haut-Medoc Cru is amde from 52% Merlot, 33% Cabernet Sauvignon and 15% Cabernet Franc.

Average age of vines: 19 years.

Aged 8 months in French oak barrels (1 year old barrels)

This wine is ripe and firm on the palate. Flavors of black plum skin and blackberry form a rich wine that is approachable at an early age.  This wine is weighted enough to balance the intense tannins, with enough acidic structure to lift the finish.

Review:

"This offers some herbal notes with an array of red fruit and bell peppers. The palate has quite a taut build of fine tannins and delivers a sturdy, fine but firm texture at the finish. A blend of 45 per cent merlot, 40 per cent cabernet sauvignon and 15 per cent cabernet franc. Try from 2022."
- James Suckling (February 2019), 92 pts

Prepared with Tempranillo grapes (100%), this wine has a very bright, intense maraschino cherry colour that fades to a Cardinal red rim.

It has a very marked aroma with a good balance of fruit and wood, where tones of vanilla intermingle with well-ripened fruit, black berries and wild fruits. There are also noticeable hints of leather and liquorice, resulting from the mingling of the French oak and the aromas inherent in this variety of grape. 

In the mouth, the wine has a smooth texture but fills the palate with balanced flavours, including fine tannins, which help extend the life of the wine. The finish and aftertaste are both long and elegant.

Vineyard: 

Pago de los Capellanes, Pedrosa de Duero. 

Variety composition: 

100% Tempranillo.

Type of soil: 

Clayey and chalky. 

Aging: 

12 months in barrel and remainder on rack.

Type of oak: 

100% French oak, medium toast.

Serving: 

Uncork and decant one hour before serving at a temperature of 16-18 ºC.

Selected harvest with yields limited to 5000 kg per hectare. The harvest begins in early October, starting with the most mature parcels. Once the grapes are brought into the winery, the tanks are seeded with indigenous yeast (start culture) and the alcoholic fermentation begins. During the barrelling period, which lasts 30 days, the wine is crushed and pumped over daily, all the while controlling the density, temperature and evolution of the yeast. At the end of this fermentation, the tanks are emptied and the wine taken for malolactic fermentation.

The malolactic fermentation begins without the addition of bacteria. The temperature is held steady at 20ºC for period of 22 days, during which we monitor the levels of malic and lactic acids. When the malic acid content is less than 0.1 grams per litre, the wine is decanted to separate the lees and is transferred directly to the barrels without undergoing any type of filtration, clarification or cold treatment.

The wine is aged for twelve months in new and semi-new French oak barrels (no more than three years old). At the end of this period, it is taken to the tank for homogenisation, where it undergoes light filtration through cartridges (open pore) and is then bottled.

 Review:

Black cherry, cranberry and blackberry flavors are bright and expressive in this lively red, accented by vanilla, tangerine and floral notes. The tannins are chewy but balanced by tangy acidity. Drink now through 2030. 39,000 cases made, 1,100 cases imported. -Wine Spectator 90 Points

M. Chapoutier Hermitage Monier de la Sizeranne is made from 100 percent Shiraz. 

In Hermitage, Syrah achieves its noblest expression and La Sizeranne has become a benchmark wine for the region. M. Chapoutier's roots in the Rhône date back to 1808, when the family first settled in Tain l'Hermitage. The family purchased a winery owned by Comte Monier de la Sizeranne and over time, acquired a number of excellent vineyards, including some of the oldest in France. M. Chapoutier was the first winery to put Braille on a wine label in 1996. Maurice Monier de la Sizeranne was the owner of the plot of the Hermitage, la Sizeranne until he was blinded in a hunting accident and unable to take care of the land, choosing instead to sell to the Chapoutier family. Following his accident, Maurice became the inventor of the first version of abbreviated Braille, and Chapoutier included Braille on the wine labels as a tribute to his work.

he grapes ferment in open wooden vats after total destemming. Two daily treadings ensure a good extraction of the tannins. Maturation takes place in oak casks, of which one third is new. Several rackings permit a slow and natural clarification process. The wine is unfiltered and unfined.

Review:

(20% new oak): Opaque ruby. Intense, mineral-driven aromas of ripe blackberry, smoked meat and incense. Pliant, supple and sweet, with a distinct smokiness to its dark berry and spicecake flavors. Finishes with slow-building tannins, repeating smokiness and strong floral persistence. A very strong showing for this bottling.

-- Josh Raynolds Vinous 92 Points

Our 2015 Flanagan Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast continued the string of “winemaker vintages” that started with the 2012 vintage. For the third year in a row, there were no damaging weather events and fruit condition was excellent. We continue to do relatively short fermentations with some whole cluster additions. The wine was aged in Francois Freres and Rousseau barrels for 12 months.

This wine is the first that includes fruit from our two new vineyard designate sites. Both Sunchase and Sonoma Stage are well regarded, cool climate Sonoma Coast vineyards and in 2014 both produced abundant, ripe, clean fruit. The resulting wine is reflective of the cooler climate sites and shows more restraint and more elegance than the 2013 Pinot Noir. The fruits are focused on black cherry and nearly ripe black plum (sweet, but crisp and not flabby). We used a gentler touch on the oak to allow the great vineyard sites and the beautiful vintage to shine through.