2015 Château Cantemerle, Haut-Médoc, Bordeaux

2015 Château Cantemerle, Haut-Médoc, Bordeaux

Product: 20158004338
Prices start from £220.00 per case Buying options
2015 Château Cantemerle, Haut-Médoc, Bordeaux

Buying options

Available by the case In Bond. Pricing excludes duty and VAT, which must be paid separately before delivery. Storage charges apply.
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12 x 75cl bottle
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Description

One of the sleepers of the vintage, the 2015 Cantemerle is even better from bottle than it was from barrel. Dark cherry, plum, licorice, new leather and tobacco all flesh out in this inviting, resonant Haut-Médoc. A wine with gorgeous presence and no hard edges, Cantemerle captures all the sheer early appeal of the vintage. Cantemerle is 60% Cabernet Sauvignon and 30% Merlot, with dollops of Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot.

Drink 2018 - 2023

Antonio Galloni, Vinous.com (February 2018)

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Critics reviews

Antonio Galloni, Vinous90/100

One of the sleepers of the vintage, the 2015 Cantemerle is even better from bottle than it was from barrel. Dark cherry, plum, licorice, new leather and tobacco all flesh out in this inviting, resonant Haut-Médoc. A wine with gorgeous presence and no hard edges, Cantemerle captures all the sheer early appeal of the vintage. Cantemerle is 60% Cabernet Sauvignon and 30% Merlot, with dollops of Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot.

Drink 2018 - 2023

Antonio Galloni, Vinous.com (February 2018)

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James Suckling95/100

Impressive richness and clarity of red and dark berries. Lightly spiced-pastry aromas, too. The palate has a very crisp, polished and groomed tannin texture, as well as super fresh flavors that carry long. Great wine.

Drink from 2022 onward

James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com (March 2022)

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Decanter91/100

Deep and bright with a good attack of brambles, gooseberry and raspberry. It just doesn't quite deliver the suave tannins that you look for in such a brilliant vintage, although the relatively high 6% of Petit Verdot alongside the classic Cabernets and Merlot blend often gives a slight rusticity to them in the early years. One of the few wines in the Margaux region where I prefer the 2016, but this is still a lovely wine.

Drink 2023 – 2040

Jane Anson, Decanter.com (November 2017)

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Jeb Dunnuck91/100

Based on 59% Cabernet Sauvignon, 27% Merlot and the rest Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot, the inky coloured 2015 Château Cantemerle offers a terrific bouquet of black currants, smoked herbs, earth, and hints of charcoal. Ripe, concentrated, rounded, and undeniably delicious, with ripe tannin, it's a terrific vintage for Cantemerle to drink anytime over the coming 10-15 years.

Drink 2018 – 2033

Jeb Dunnuck, JebDunnuck.com (November 2017)

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About this WINE

Chateau Cantemerle

Chateau Cantemerle

Ch. Cantemerle's woodland setting is amongst the most beautiful of any château in the Médoc. It is located in the far south of the region, almost on the outskirts of the city of Bordeaux. It is the first major property on the Médoc Route des Châteaux, north of Bordeaux.

Cantemerle has 94 hectares of vineyards, planted with Cabernet Sauvignon (60%), Merlot (30%), Cabernet Franc (6%) and Petit Verdot (4%). The wines are made under the guidance of consultant oenologist, Eric Boissenot, undergoing 12 months' ageing in French oak, of which 40% is new.

Cantemerle is a Cinquième Cru Classé, with approximately 400,000 bottles produced each year and a further 160,000 bottles of the property’s second wine, Les Allées de Cantemerle.

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Haut-Medoc

Haut-Medoc

Despite being as visually unprepossessing as the rest of the Médoc (despite its grandiose châteaux) this large red-wine appellation of Haut-Médoc is home to some of the world’s greatest wines. Its 4,500 hectares of vineyards form a largely continuous strip that follows the Gironde from St Seurin-de-Cadourne, just north of St Estèphe, to Blanquefort in the northern suburbs of Bordeaux.

All the great communes of the Left Bank fall within its boundaries: Margaux, St Julien, Pauillac and St Estèphe, as well as the up and coming Moulis and Listrac. These are labelled under their own, more illustrious and expensive appellation names. Châteaux labelled simply as Haut-Médoc rarely reach such heights, but nevertheless offer consistently good quality and offer some of the best value in Bordeaux.

Haut-Médoc wines tend to be firm and fine with generous fruit and a nice minerality – what many would consider ‘classic Claret’. They come from loftier vineyards and offer higher quality and more complexity than those labelled simply as ‘Médoc’. Almost all wines are a blend of the principal varieties – Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc – which helps producers hedge their bets if the slightly capricious climate causes one variety to fail. Small amounts of Petit Verdot, Malbec and even Carmenère are also used.

The higher proportion of sand and gravel to the south tends to produce finer wines, while the heavier clay and gravel north of Margaux yields sturdier examples. The best Haut-Médocs are found north of Ludon, a village just below Margaux. These include five classified Growths: Third Growth Ch. La Lagune, underperforming Fourth Growth Ch. la Tour Carnet and Fifth Growths Ch. Cantemerle, Ch. Camensac and Ch. Belgrave – as well as a number of fine Cru Bourgeois. Ageing ability varies but the lesser wines are usually delicious after three to four years, lasting around a decade, while the Cru Classés have a drinkability window of around six to 15 years.

Recommended Châteaux (labelled as Haut-Médoc): Ch. Beaumont, Ch. Belgrave, Ch. Cantemerle, Ch. Peyrabon

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Cabernet Sauvignon blend

Cabernet Sauvignon blend

Cabernet Sauvignon lends itself particularly well in blends with Merlot. This is actually the archetypal Bordeaux blend, though in different proportions in the sub-regions and sometimes topped up with Cabernet Franc, Malbec, and Petit Verdot.

In the Médoc and Graves the percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon in the blend can range from 95% (Mouton-Rothschild) to as low as 40%. It is particularly suited to the dry, warm, free- draining, gravel-rich soils and is responsible for the redolent cassis characteristics as well as the depth of colour, tannic structure and pronounced acidity of Médoc wines. However 100% Cabernet Sauvignon wines can be slightly hollow-tasting in the middle palate and Merlot with its generous, fleshy fruit flavours acts as a perfect foil by filling in this cavity.

In St-Emilion and Pomerol, the blends are Merlot dominated as Cabernet Sauvignon can struggle to ripen there - when it is included, it adds structure and body to the wine. Sassicaia is the most famous Bordeaux blend in Italy and has spawned many imitations, whereby the blend is now firmly established in the New World and particularly in California and  Australia.

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When is a wine ready to drink?

We provide drinking windows for all our wines. Alongside the drinking windows there is a bottle icon and a maturity stage. Bear in mind that the best time to drink a wine does also depend on your taste.

Not ready

These wines are very young. Whilst they're likely to have lots of intense flavours, their acidity or tannins may make them feel austere. Although it isn't "wrong" to drink these wines now, you are likely to miss out on a lot of complexity by not waiting for them to mature.

Ready - youthful

These wines are likely to have plenty of fruit flavours still and, for red wines, the tannins may well be quite noticeable. For those who prefer younger, fruitier wines, or if serving alongside a robust meal, these will be very enjoyable. If you choose to hold onto these wines, the fruit flavours will evolve into more savoury complexity.

Ready - at best

These wines are likely to have a beautiful balance of fruit, spice and savoury flavours. The acidity and tannins will have softened somewhat, and the wines will show plenty of complexity. For many, this is seen as the ideal time to drink and enjoy these wines. If you choose to hold onto these wines, they will become more savoury but not necessarily more complex.

Ready - mature

These wines are likely to have plenty of complexity, but the fruit flavours will have been almost completely replaced by savoury and spice notes. These wines may have a beautiful texture at this stage of maturity. There is lots to enjoy when drinking wines at this stage. Most of these wines will hold in this window for a few years, though at the very end of this drinking window, wines start to lose complexity and decline.