Château Cantemerle
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Region: Haut-Médoc, Bordeaux, France
Grape: Cabernet Sauvignon / Merlot / Cabernet Franc / Petit Verdot
Tasting: Redcurrant / Blackcurrant / Violet / Cedar / Pencil shavings / Fine tannin / Medium bodied / Long finish
Pairing: Roast Poulet de Bresse / Squab pigeon with ceps / Rare Black Angus sirloin / Terrine de campagne / Tomme des Alpes
Producer: Cantemerle is the southernmost of the classified growths, at Macau on the edge of the Médoc, and it very nearly wasn't classified at all: left off the 1855 list when it was drawn up, it was added that September after Caroline de Villeneuve-Durfort pressed the case — the only change made to the original, and the only one until Mouton was promoted in 1973. The vineyard runs to around 90 hectares in 56 parcels of quaternary gravel over sand, vines averaging thirty years with some old Cabernet Sauvignon well past twice that, and it sits inside a 28-hectare park of old trees laid out in the nineteenth century. SMABTP bought the estate in 1981 and spent heavily putting it back in order. Cabernet Sauvignon leads, with Merlot behind and a little Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot; the wine spends twelve to sixteen months in barrel, close to half of them new.
2019 vintage: A cool, wet June made flowering uneven, then the weather set fair and stayed that way — hot and dry through July and August, with days over 35°C and nights cold enough to keep the acidity intact. Rain came twice, both times when it was wanted, and the harvest ran through to mid-October in good order. The 2019 at Cantemerle is true to the house: medium-weight, cedar and redcurrant, fine-grained tannin rather than muscle. It has the freshness of the vintage without the weight some of the Médoc put on. Good now, better in three or four years.
ABV: 13.5%
Vol: 75cl
Allergens: Contains sulphite
