Wine Review of 2011 Château de Chambrun Lalande-de-Pomerol, red wine from Bordeaux, France
Score: 92+/100 points
The Château de Chambrun property belonged to Jean-Philippe Janoueix until 2007, before being owned by Silvio Denz until 2015 (owner of Château Faugères in Saint-Emilion).
The estate and the wine are now the spearhead of the Moncets Chambrun vineyards in the Lalande-de-Pomerol appellation of the Bordeaux area, France, and represents a new generation of wine.
The 2011 vintage reviewed here is a blend of 83% Merlot with 17% Cabernet Franc selected from 25-yeard vines on average, from a total surface area of 6.8 hectares on sandy and gravelly soils on clay subsoil.
After fermentation, the wine was aged for 16 months in French oak barrels (75% of which were new).
Overall Review Notes & Tasting Impressions
A red wine with a deep visual intensity. It’s dark and profound in its appearance, as well in its aromatic profile.
Very dark chocolate notes compete with cherry and prune liqueur for the tittle of dominant aroma on the nose. Black pepper, licorice, delicate vanilla and dark caramel complete a mysterious and profound smell. Tempting and charming with an intriguing depth!
Château de Chambrun grants the taster with a full body and plethora of dense tannins, on a dry background with salivating and mineral acidity.
The outstanding feature here is the smoothness of the granulous-but-velvety tannic structure.
Dense and compact, it teases your taste buds leaving them with a delicate, silky, sand-like texture on the palate. A rare and enjoyable experience. Rarely have I tasted a wine giving such a corrosive sandy feel yet a very smooth textural one! Quite unique.
Flavors are compact and testify of the ripeness of the grapes that must have gone into its making.
Warming prune liqueur, dark blackberry, and raisin come with a heap of mixed spices and a buttery caramel sensation amplified by the warmth of some obvious alcoholic strength. Big body, big tannins, big sensations!
Yet, all is delivered in a typical Bordeaux right bank and old world fashion, with minerality and a sense of savoriness and elegance.
A big and concentrated wine, in a rather bold style for a Bordeaux wine, delivering powerful sensations and a unique textural experience.
The refined and complex flavors, the minerality and the sense of savoriness despite the warming fruity richness, and the distinctive tannic structure give a real impression that you can taste the expression of the sandy and gravely terroir it comes from. A rare trait for a wine to have. A pleasing one…
When to Drink?
Good to drink now and within the next 15 years (2018-2023).
Enjoy 🙂
Please let me know your thoughts