2022 Château Gloria, St Julien, Bordeaux
Critics reviews
The 2022 Gloria was picked from 12-26 September and matured in 40% new oak, slightly less than the Saint-Pierre. It has a perfumed, floral nose with crushed violet infusing the black cherry and blueberry fruit.
The palate is medium-bodied with sumptuous tannins that belie the structure underneath. With pure fruit and well-judged acidity, this 2022 is sensual with a persistent and lightly spiced finish. Superb.
Drink 2029 - 2060
Neal Martin, Vinous.com (April 2023)
The 2022 Gloria is terrific. Bold and punchy, Gloria offers all of its typical charms but with an extra kick of fruit richness. Sumptuous red/purplish fruit, blood orange, spice, mint and rose petals are nicely dialled up in this super-expressive, delicious Saint-Julien. Tasted two times.
Drink 2027 - 2047
Antonio Galloni, Vinous.com (April 2023)
Intense with a bright plum colour, spicy, dark fruits, coffee bean and cocoa, this is almost heading towards overdone, but it pulls back, leans into the vintage and is very much on point with the estate signature.
It has texture and depth, a little overly concentrated through the mid-palate but shows the restraint that comes with the pumice stone texture of St Julien tannins. One to watch over ageing. In biodynamic conversion.
Drink 2028 - 2042
Jane Anson, JaneAnson.com (May 2023)
50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Merlot, 9% Petit Verdot, 6% Cabernet Franc. Cask sample.
Dark and spicy with a generous amount of gourmand fruit. Freshness for balance and fine but firm tannins providing persistence. Smooth texture. As is often the case, it punches above its weight.
Drink 2028 - 2042
James Lawther MW, JancisRobinson.com (May 2023)
A blend of 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Merlot, 6% Cabernet Franc and 9% Petit Verdot, the 2022 Gloria bursts with aromas of cherries, sweet berries, petals and spices, framed by a deft touch of creamy new oak.
Medium to full-bodied, rich and fleshy, with a succulent, enveloping core of fruit and supple tannins, it's a gourmand but nicely balanced Saint-Julien that will offer a broad drinking window.
William Kelley, Wine Advocate (April 2023)
A linear and very fine wine with blackberry, blueberry and currant character. Hints of cedar and stone. Medium to full body. Linear and fine finish. Very well done.
James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com (April 2023)
Juicy and alive, energetic from the start, bright and vibrant with juicy, well-integrated tannins plumped up concentrated dark fruit giving it strength and richness. Broad and packed with lots to offer, appealing and easy to enjoy, with a sweet succulence at the end that lifts the whole palate and makes you want to try it again. Some salty, mineral touches on the finish, too, give a nice lingering mineral flavour.
Tasted twice. 6% Cabernet Franc completes the blend. A yield of 34hl/ha. Harvest 12-26 September.
Drink 2025 -2039
Georgina Hindle, Decanter.com (April 2023)
A gem in the vintage is going to be the 2022 Château Gloria, which comes from 50 hectares of vines and is 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Merlot, 6% Cabernet Franc, and the rest Petit Verdot.
Harvested between September 14 and 26, with yields of 34 hectoliters per hectare, it offers an inky purple hue to go with medium to full-bodied aromas and flavours of crème de cassis, ripe black cherries, spicy oak, and graphite.
Hitting 13.8% alcohol and ageing in 60% new French oak, it's a pure, layered, elegant, yet concentrated Saint-Julien that readers will love. Tasted twice.
Jeb Dunnuck, JebDunnuck.com (May 2023)
About this WINE
Chateau Gloria
Château Gloria is an unclassified St-Julien property that produces clarets that equal in quality those from the more prestigious classed growths. Henri Martin, a cooper by upbringing, took over the property in 1942 and began purchasing plots of vineyards from classed growth properties such as Gruaud-Larose, Talbot, Lagrange and Léoville-Barton. By the mid 1960s he had 50 hectares spread across the appellation. In 1982 he purchased Château St-Pierre and thus realised his lifetime ambition of owning a Grand Cru Classé property.
Henri Martin died in 1991 and Gloria is now run by his son-in-law Jean-Louis Triaud. The wine is a blend of 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Franc and 5% Petit Verdot. It is aged in a combination of large oak foudres and small oak barrels (50% new).
Gloria produces a wine that is typically deep in colour and rich, cassis-laden and cedary on the palate. It normally needs 7-10 years of bottle age to show at its best.
St Julien
St Julien is the smallest of the "Big Four" Médoc communes. Although, without any First Growths, St Julien is recognised to be the most consistent of the main communes, with several châteaux turning out impressive wines year after year.
St Julien itself is much more of a village than Pauillac and almost all of the notable properties lie to its south. Its most northerly château is Ch. Léoville Las Cases (whose vineyards actually adjoin those of Latour in Pauillac) but, further south, suitable vineyard land gives way to arable farming and livestock until the Margaux appellation is reached.
The soil is gravelly and finer than that of Pauillac, and without the iron content which gives Pauillac its stature. The homogeneous soils in the vineyards (which extend over a relatively small area of just over 700 hectares) give the commune a unified character.
The wines can be assessed as much by texture as flavour, and there is a sleek, wholesome character to the best. Elegance, harmony and perfect balance and weight, with hints of cassis and cedar, are what epitomise classic St Julien wines. At their very best they combine Margaux’s elegance and refinement with Pauillac’s power and substance.
Ch. Léoville Las Cases produces arguably the most sought-after St Julien, and in any reassessment of the 1855 Classification it would almost certainly warrant being elevated to First Growth status.
Recommended Châteaux: Ch. Léoville Las Cases, Ch.Léoville Barton, Ch Léoville Poyferré, Ch. Ducru-Beaucaillou, Ch Langoa Barton, Ch Gruaud Larose, Ch. Branaire-Ducru, Ch. Beychevelle
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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Description
The 2022 Gloria was picked from 12-26 September and matured in 40% new oak, slightly less than the Saint-Pierre. It has a perfumed, floral nose with crushed violet infusing the black cherry and blueberry fruit.
The palate is medium-bodied with sumptuous tannins that belie the structure underneath. With pure fruit and well-judged acidity, this 2022 is sensual with a persistent and lightly spiced finish. Superb.
Drink 2029 - 2060
Neal Martin, Vinous.com (April 2023)
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