The 2025 Bordeaux vintage is defined by a paradox of extreme heat yet produced many wines with surprising elegance. After a mild winter, an exceptionally early and uniform flowering in mid-May set the stage for an accelerated growing season. However, the defining characteristic was a series of intense heatwaves in June and August, with temperatures peaking near 42°C.
The result was a year of remarkably low yields but also intense, pure concentration. Small, thick-skinned berries – particularly in the Merlot – produced wines with deep colour and rich phenolic structure. While the heat initially threatened to block ongoing ripening, critical rains in late August combined with cooler night temperatures preserved a “crystalline” acidity that distinguishes 2025 from the more opulent and hedonistic 2022 vintage.
Key Highlights:
• Quality vs. Quantity: Exceptional aromatic intensity and ripe tannins, though volumes are down roughly -15% due to heat-induced berry shrivelling.
• Terroir Success: Clay and limestone soils (notably in Saint-Émilion and Pomerol) thrived by regulating water stress.
• Style: Early tastings suggest a “modern classic” – combining the power of solar vintages with a refined, fresh finish and moderate alcohol levels (averaging 13.5–14%).
For collectors, 2025 stands as a “vigneron’s year,” where precise harvest timing was essential to balance its natural fruit density with graceful acids.
Petit Cantenac 2025, Saint Emilion Grand Cru, 13% Abv.
The 2025 Petit Cantenac stays true to the vintage and displays an incredibly intense, lifted, “crystalline” purity and perfume with piercing notes of violets, crushed red cherries, black currants and red currants with a delicate dusting of leafy spice, freshly cut cedar, and subtle notes of Asian five spice. The palate shows a mouthwatering crunchy structure, tightly delineated acids and a steely tension that envelops the bright red and black berry fruit concentration. The tannins are tense and sinewy rather than muscular, holding the ripe fruits in perfect balance. This is essentially a “modern classic” with a cool demeanour, crunchy bright acids together with a potent, focused depth of fruit. Forward and elegantly accessible in style but simultaneously quite a serious expression. Drink from 2028 to 2040+.
(Wine Safari Score: 92-94/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Clos Cantenac 2025, Saint Emilion Grand Cru. 13.25% Abv.
Once again, the 2025 Clos Cantenac Saint Emilion Grand Vin is a 100% Merlot offering that will be aged for 12 months in 40% new oak barriques and 60% in second and third passage barrels. While this wine’s aromatics share an exotic, lifted exuberance with its junior sibling, Petit Cantenac, the perfume and fragrance is that much more intricate, broader, and more intense, showing sweet violets, rich ripe black berry fruits, crème de cassis, blue berries, black cherries and pronounced Christmas gateau nuances. There is a lingering hint of spicy new oak in the background, but this wine is decidedly plush and hedonistic with an impressive classical elegance. The palate is tight knit, cool and incredibly focused revealing a tight grained, stony minerality, hints of cigar box, tobacco leaf, black cherry compote and tart cassis on the finish. This wine possesses all the composure, freshness and seduction of a truly great Bordeaux vintage. Dink from 2028 to 2045+.
(Wine Safari Score: 94-96/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
L’Innocence de Seraphine 2025, Pomerol, 13.5% Abv.
Many drinkers imagine Pomerol wines being 100% Merlot, but this example is a 70% Merlot and 30% Cabernet Franc assemblage. The aromatics are true to form – lush, plush, exotic and hedonistic with fragrant notes of sweet violets, red currants, black cherries and frais de bois wild strawberries. Complexing veins of black chocolate run deep into the wine, complimented by notes of wet tobacco and dried baking spices. The mouthfeel is full, glycerol and textural revealing hints of vanilla pod spice, picante black berries, creamy tannins and a savoury black liquorice finish. This wine has all the power of Pomerol fruit but with a slightly softer, more integrated, harmonious finish. This wine offers great value for Pomerol lovers. Drink from 2028 to 2040.
(Wine Safari Score: 92-93/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Chateau Seraphine 2025, Pomerol, 13.5% Abv.
We often like to compare second wines to their Grand Vins but this Seraphine is in a completely different league. A blend of 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc, the wine will be aged in a selection of 300 litre new French oak barrels and amphorae. Thereafter, the wine is racked off into French oak barrels (45% new and 55% second and third fill) where it will be matured for 12-14 months to harmonise further. On the nose, this is pure hedonistic joy – vibrant, lifted and enticingly fresh and perfumed showing bay leaf and thyme spice. Notes of fresh violets, savoury black cherries, earthy loam, and damsons plum nuances melt into earthy black currants and a sappy wood spice persistence. The concentration is notable, the acid freshness and creamy fruit concentration simply breathtaking, buffered by incredibly supple, creamy fine grained tannins. An intricate, powerful, complex expression that is sure to impress Bordeaux lovers! Drink from 2028 to 2040.
(Wine Safari Score: 96-97/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
EP and back vintages of Clos Cantenac and Chateau Seraphine are available from specialist UK merchant Museum Wines.
The 2016 Bordeaux vintage was nothing short of dramatic. For those tending the vines, it was a growing season shaped by an extraordinary mix of weather patterns which produced wines of remarkable balance and complexity. At the time, the oenologists echoed what many were feeling: “Bordeaux, by some miracle compared to many French wine regions, is preparing for an exceptional vintage.” Within the context of this historical pronouncement, and a surfeit of high critical scores dished out at En-primeur time, the only thing that can settle the status of this vintage once and for all is a “10 years on” tasting of bottled wines. Many thanks to Bordeaux Index for the opportunity to assess a phenomenal selection of top Chateaux wines.
A wet and cold winter set the stage for the 2016 vintage, with rainfall in the first six months of the growing season matching that of the entire previous year. Then, from mid-June to mid-August, the weather shifted dramatically, bringing a long, hot, and dry summer, followed by just 20mm of rain in early September. For many winemakers, that combination was a double-edged sword. On the one hand, the dry heat during July and August was a worry – especially on gravelly soils or younger vines which struggled with water stress.
On the other hand, the soils that had stored the winter’s water, especially clay and limestone plots, proved their worth and sustained the vines throughout the drought. Then came a timely and gentle revival: light rains in mid-September, followed by a long Indian-summer stretch – warm days, cool nights, and slowed-down ripening.
Christian Seely from Pichon Baron and Veronique Sanders from Haut Bailly.
As a result, many of the top estates found themselves harvesting remarkably late, often stretching far into October, allowing grapes the time they needed for full phenolic maturity: deep colour, rich tannins, well concentrated flavours, but without excess alcohol or overripe jammy fruit. As Jacques Thienpont of Le Pin noted, it was the first time in the estate’s history that harvest didn’t begin until October. Overall, the vintage was characterised by a balance of fruit and high (but supremely ripe) tannins with fresh acidity and pleasingly moderate alcohol levels.
Many thanks to Bordeaux Index for the opportunity to assess a phenomenal selection of top Chateaux wines.
The 2016 Bordeaux Selection:
Chateau Cheval Blanc 2016, Saint Emilion
Lifted and perfumed. Silky and utterly sophisticated.
(Wine Safari Score: 98/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Chateau Ausone 2016, St Emilion
Dark tight and broody. More black berry intensity. Chiselled and fresh. Precise.
(Wine Safari Score: 97+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Chateau La Mission Haut Brion 2016, Pessac-Leognan
Red fruit, cedar, black berry. Earthy, Xmas spice. Class.
(Wine Safari Score: 98/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Chateau Haut Brion 2016, Pessac-Leognan
Rich, broad expansive aromatics. Black currant and graphite. Incredible depth. Very impressive.
(Wine Safari Score: 99+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Chateau Margaux 2016, Margaux
Fragrant cassis and saline black fruits. Silky, precise and fine grained.
(Wine Safari Score: 97+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Chateau Mouton-Rothschild 2016, Pauillac
More savoury and brûléed. Dense and powerful with beautifully chalky tannins. A classic Mouton.
(Wine Safari Score: 98/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Chateau Lafite-Rothschild 2016, Pauillac
Red and black berry fruits, exotic lifted perfume. Silky soft, pristine and very persistent.
(Wine Safari Score: 97+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Chateau Latour 2016, Pauillac
Complex salty cassis, oyster shell, graphite with a dense seamless palate, impressive power with phenomenal finesse. Bold wine. As close to perfection as possible.
(Wine Safari Score: 100/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Chateau Le Pin 2016, Pomerol
Mint chocolate chip, black berry and damson plum. Sweet fruited, generous palate and beautifully exotic.
(Wine Safari Score: 98/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Chateau Lafleur 2016, Pomerol
Beautifully exotic and complex, but also intricate. Brûléed, dark berries, salted cassis with a long luxurious creamy finish.
(Wine Safari Score: 98+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Chateau Petrus 2016, Pomerol
Dense, creamy and delicately lactic with chocolate praline notes, pithy graphite tannins and a cool finish.
(Wine Safari Score: 98/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Chateau Angelus 2016, Saint Emilion
Deep dense ripe black fruits, cassis, sapidity, full and powerful. Opulent and accessible.
(Wine Safari Score: 96+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Chateau Belair Monange 2016, Saint Emilion
Smoky chalky nose, graphite and black currant compote. Dense and compact power. Very smart.
(Wine Safari Score: 97+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Chateau Canon 2016, Saint Emilion
Graphite, black currant, sleek, silky, sophisticated. Superb.
(Wine Safari Score: 97/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Chateau Canon La Gafaliere 2016, Saint Emilion
Dark, spicy, picante intense fruit, raisined cherries and a chalky finish.
(Wine Safari Score: 96/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Chateau Figeac 2016, Saint Emilion
Fabulous oak – fruit integration. Complex and classy. Very silky and complete. Sensational.
(Wine Safari Score: 98/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Chateau Clos Fourtet 2016, Saint Emilion
Deep, dark and broody. Spicy mineral tannins, graphite hints and plenty of limestone grip.
(Wine Safari Score: 97/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Chateau L’IF 2016, Saint Emilion
Touch stewed, raisined black berries. Fleshy, ripe expression. Exuberant.
(Wine Safari Score: 95+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Chateau La Gaffeliere 2016, Saint Emilion
Rich and textured. Plenty of ripeness and power. Black fruits are slightly raisined on the finish.
(Wine Safari Score: 95/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Chateau La Mondotte 2016, Saint Emilion
Warm toasty aromatics, plush and creamy, full throttle but beautifully fresh. A great success.
(Wine Safari Score: 97/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Chateau Pavie 2016, Saint Emilion
Dense and dark, packed with blue and black berry fruits. Chewy tannins, dry grippy limestone length. Serious.
(Wine Safari Score: 96+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Chateau Pavie Macquin 2016, Saint Emilion
Dusty limestone, liquor and creme de cassis. Cool and supple, elegant and vibrant. This is classy.
(Wine Safari Score: 97/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Chateau Quintus 2016, Saint Emilion
Earthy savoury black fruits. Polished but slightly baked black berry compote style on the finish.
(Wine Safari Score: 94+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Chateau Troplong Mondot, Saint Emilion, 15.5% Abv.
Broody black fruited nose, the palate silky, tangy and super vibrant. Very seductive.
(Wine Safari Score: 97/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Chateau Valandraud 2016, Saint Emilion
Earthy savoury black fruits. Dense, mineral grip. Slightly austere on the finish. But classical power.
(Wine Safari Score: 96/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Chateau La Conseillante 2016, Pomerol
Brûléed, exotic enticing nose. Creamy and cool, packed with blue and purple fruits. Simply sensational.
(Wine Safari Score: 98+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Chateau L’Evangile 2016, Pomerol
Silky, opulent and utterly seductive! Very polished example.
(Wine Safari Score: 97/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Chateau Lafleur-Gazin 2016, Pomerol
Ripe savoury black berry fruits, pithy, ripe. Chiselled tannins.
(Wine Safari Score: 95/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Chateau Hosanna 2016, Pomerol
Salty, picante black berry fruits. Oyster shell, cassis and a long creamy finish.
(Wine Safari Score: 97+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Chateau La Fleur-Petrus 2016, Pomerol
Graphite, wood smoke and creasote on the nose. Broad creamy palate with polished tannins, silky drying finish.
(Wine Safari Score: 96/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Chateau Trotanoy 2016, Pomerol
Broody black currant fruits, creamy and mineral. Power packed. Wow.
(Wine Safari Score: 98/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Chateau La Violette 2016, Pomerol
Blue black fruits, effortless concentration, light and airy but still substantial.
(Wine Safari Score: 95+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Chateau Clinet 2016, Pomerol
Silky, complex, very complete wine. Cool and mineral. Textured but such class!
(Wine Safari Score: 97+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Vieux Chateau Certan, Pomerol, 14.5% Abv.
Juicy red and black berry fruits, graphite, limestone and mineral lift. Dense, creamy and very classy.
(Wine Safari Score: 98+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Chateau Haut-Bailly 2016, Pessac-Leognan
Lovely melange of savoury earth and black berry. Compact, dense, silky but plenty of power.
(Wine Safari Score: 97+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Chateau Les Carmes Haut Brion 2016, Pessac-Leognan
Intricate, perfumed and exotic, very enticing. Compact but sleek. Silky tannins, fresh and elegant. True class.
(Wine Safari Score: 98/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Chateau Smith Haut Lafitte 2016, Pessac-Leognan
Savoury, truffle, exotic and complex. Creamy and intense.
(Wine Safari Score: 96+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Chateau Domaine de Chevalier 2016, Pessac-Leognan
Ripe red berry fruits, graphite and limestone, densely textured, compact and true class. Wow.
(Wine Safari Score: 97+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
La Chapelle de La Mission Haut Brion 2016, Pessac-Leognan
Earth, truffle, savoury black fruits. Fabulous creamy depth, intricate acids, and true class.
(Wine Safari Score: 96/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Clarence de Chateau Haut Brion, 13.5% Abv.
Supple, silky and soft, plenty of earthy minerality, with a taut grippy finish. Punches way above its price point.
(Wine Safari Score: 95/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Chateau D’Issan 2016, Margaux
Plenty of brûléed black fruit, creamy tannins and earthy black currant compote finish.
(Wine Safari Score: 96/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Chateau Palmer 2016, Margaux
Cool, pure black fruits, impressive intensity and length. Very elegant with underlying power.
(Wine Safari Score: 98/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Chateau Leoville Barton 2016, Saint Julien
A dense, compact wine with impressive depth and power, tantalisingly structured for the long haul. Yes please!
(Wine Safari Score: 96+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Chateau Pontet-Canet 2016, Pauillac
This is super juicy, vibrant and textured with a tangy acidity, fabulous saline crème de cassis depth. Really lovely opulence.
(Wine Safari Score: 98/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Les Forts de Latour 2016, Pauillac
Complex layered wine with tilled earth, black berries and wet tobacco. Super serious.
(Wine Safari Score: 95/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Carruades de Lafite 2016, Pauillac
Medium weight, elegant and silky with black currant, damson plum and black cherry depth.
(Wine Safari Score: 94/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Le Petit Mouton 2016, Pauillac
Creamy black fruited depth, graphite, tilled earth with delicate mint and milk chocolate nuances.
(Wine Safari Score: 93+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Chateau Pichon Baron 2016, Pauillac
Dense, compact, powerful expression full of earthy black berry fruit, sweet tannins. graphite and cedar spice. Plenty of stuffing for the long haul.
Regarded as two of the true rising star Chateaux of Pomerol and Saint Emilion, Charlotte Krajewski, daughter of owner Martin Krajewski, has overseen winemaking at these properties since 2017 as the Technical Director and Chief Winemaker after previously travelling and working extensively in France, Australia, USA and more latterly New Zealand. The small 6-hectare property of Clos Cantenac planted on deep gravels, clay, and sand over broken limestone, yields two wines annually, Clos Cantenac and a second wine, Petit Cantenac, while the prestigious 2.2-hectare Pomerol property of Chateau Seraphine, planted on 40-million-year-old blue smectite clay, produces wines with incredibly opulent, sensual, and hedonistic characteristics yet remains eminently cellar worthy. In Neal Martin’s recent Vinous.com ‘in-bottle’ review of the 2022 Pomerols, Chateau Seraphine featured in the top 8 highest scoring wines alongside the likes of Chateau Petrus, Le Pin and Trotanoy.
Pomerol and Saint Emilion 2024
The 2024 vintage was yet another rollercoaster ride and a very complicated viticultural year in Bordeaux. A very wet year, especially during the autumn and winter months, this wasn’t however the whole story as appellations like Pauillac, for example, experienced less rain than its 10-year average. After the drought affected vintages of 2018, 2020 and 2022, the 2024 growing season got off to a promising start before the onset of spring brought hail and the early signs of what was to become a season-long battle with mildew disease pressures. A grey and gloomy May saw cool temperatures that slowed vine growth and resulted in uneven flowering, especially for the Merlot vines. But as summer finally arrived in late June, the mood shifted. Drier, sunnier conditions settled in through August and into September, bringing with them a welcome window for ripening, particularly beneficial for Cabernet Sauvignon, which was harvested in improved conditions right up into mid-October.
Clos Cantenac Petit Cantenac 2024, Saint Emilion Grand Cru, 13% Abv.
In 2024 the Petit Cantenac is a blend of 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Franc and as with many cooler Bordeaux vintages, the aromatics are packed with delightful crunchy berry fruit notes that definitely err towards the red fruit spectrum. Bright and perfumed, there are layers of raspberries, red cherries and earthy red currants and a delightful sweet ceder spice hint along side dried herbs, graphite and crushed limestone minerality. On the palate, the wine is pure, crunchy, and bright but also incredibly lithe, fresh, and light on its feet, with a mouth-watering succulence of bramble berries, tart red plums, and a medley of red summer berries underpinned by fine grained mineral tannins and an intricate lattice work of tangy lemony acidity. At the heart of the wine is the signature polish and balance that you find on all the Clos Cantenac wines, engendering a real sense of attention to detail. A cooler, more classical expression of Saint Emilion that drinkers will find hard to resist in its youth. (12,000 bottles produced.)
(Wine Safari Score: 91-93/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Clos Cantenac 2024, Saint Emilion Grand Cru, 13.25% Abv.
This Saint Emilion Grand Vin from Clos Cantenac is a 100% Merlot that will be aged for 12 months in 40% new oak barriques and 60% in second and third passage barrels. The aromatics on this embryonic wine are lifted and perfumed, indeed quite striking and fresh, painting a picture of a summer garden in bloom with notes of violets, peonies, and white blossoms over a melange of red and black berries, black currants, black cherries and freshly picked blueberries. The florality is further enhanced with delicate hints of briary, dry tobacco leaf, Asian baking spices and hints of cinnamon, clove and cedar oak spice. The palate is cool, fresh, and racy with tart black currant and black cherry notes gently underpinned by crisp linear acids, fine grained limestone mineral tannins and a well delineated, taut finish. A cool climate, energetic vintage full of restrained classicism, this wine will be deliciously mouthwatering and accessible on release but also worthy of beneficial medium-term cellaring. (6,000 bottled produced.)
(Wine Safari Score: 92-94/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
L’Innocence de Seraphine 2024, Pomerol, 13.25% Abv.
In 2024, the L’Innocence de Seraphine second wine is a blend of 65% Merlot and 35% Cabernet Franc and offers up a complex aromatics of potpourri, pressed violets, sweet cedar, pithy black cherry, macerated black berries, herbaceous dried tobacco leaf, graphite and exotic hints of Asian spices and Sichuan pepper. The palate shows a well-balanced textural tight knit elegance but also an overt mineral restraint together with notes of spicy black berries, salty liquorice, vanilla pod spice and dry powdery graphite tannins. Medium bodied, cool, and classically mineral, the finish is leaner than more recent solar vintages but equally charming and seductive. (4,500 bottles produced.)
(Wine Safari Score: 90-92/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Chateau Seraphine 2024, Pomerol, 13.5% Abv.
The flagship Grand Vin from the estate is a 100% Merlot that will be aged for 12 to 14 months in 45% new French oak barriques with 55% in second and third passage barrels. From the very first nosing, it becomes very clear that this vintage is yet another majestic boutique offering with dense, layered, alluring aromatics packed full of violets, acacia, and white blossoms before notes of salty black currant, crème de cassis, liquorice, black cherries, and macerated blueberries with a kiss of graphite and iron filings. True to this cooler vintage, there is a more accentuated classical mineral component to the palate that’s simultaneously concentrated, finely polished and hedonistic. With a fine veil of mineral tannins and complex layers of mocha infused blue and black berry fruits, this wine shines, proudly displaying its textural complexity and pedigree, revealing the results of incredibly strict grape selection. This is undoubtedly a triumph over adversity for the Chateau and the appellation. (4,000 bottles produced.)
(Wine Safari Score: 94-96/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Back vintages of the Clos Cantenac and Chateau Seraphine wines are available retail in the UK from specialist fine wine merchant Museum Wines as well as En-primeur on release. Prices available on request.
“Is 2022 the acme of Bordeaux? Will it be uttered in the same breath as 1945, 1961, 1982, 2016 and so forth? The 2022 vintage is one of the modern-day greats. The best will stand the test of time.” ~ Neal Martin, Vinous.com
Few wine critics can challenge the supremacy of Neal Martin when it comes to the region of Pomerol and its wines. Indeed, his epic tome is now regarded as the ultimate authority on the region, recently prompting Neal to agree to start work on an updated second edition. Reading the above comments from Neal in his recent Pomerol “in bottle” report, it is very clear that 2022 is already being compared to some of the region’s other hallowed vintages, a sign that bodes exceptionally well for producers who produced second wines.
Chateau Séraphine 2022 recently placed 8th in Neal Martin’s overall review of Pomerol 2022 wines, only coming in behind the great names of Petrus, Le Pin, VCC, La Conseillante, L’Eglise Clinet, Lafleur and Trotanoy. So the Seraphine Grand Vin is certainly rubbing shoulders with the heady, elite big boys of Pomerol. So, what better time then to take another closer look at the second wine from owner Martin Krajewski, namely the L’Innocence de Seraphine 2022, a wine that normally offers exceptional bang for your buck. The new release 2022 will be available in bottle soon but the 2019 is currently offered for £65 inc. per bottle in the UK (and which also rated a solid 93/100 on A Fine Wine Safari).
The2022 Vintage:
The word was out early that the Bordelais felt they had something special in 2022, long before the world’s wine merchants arrived to make their own assessments at En-primeur. Heatwaves and drought are not usually parents to high-quality wines. However, the wines in barrel confounded merchants’ expectations, with most agreeing that the 2022 vintage was indeed a special one across Bordeaux. Despite the lack of water, the vines did not seem to suffer terribly, remaining in leaf and in good health right up to the harvest. The berries were small and so yields were restricted.
Chateau Seraphine vineyards in Pomerol in September.
All varieties were beautifully ripe, so much so that some properties felt no need to produce any second wines, many opting rather to increase the proportion of press wine in the final blend, such was its quality. Predictably, release prices were, on the whole, very high. But, due to the across-the-board high quality, those producers that did decide to make second wines, like Chateau Seraphine, produced exceptional examples that will undoubtedly thrill Bordeaux lovers.
L’Innocence de Seraphine 2022, Pomerol, 14% Abv.
Pomerol’s consumer popularity is undoubtedly reinforced by the elegance, succulence and fleshy accessibility of the appellation’s Merlot based wines. This beautiful 2022 is the second wine of the iconic boutique Chateau Seraphine and shows all the regal elegance, pedigree and sophistication you’d expect from this prime right bank terroir. Dark and inky in the glass, the aromatics display a majestic melange of black berries, cassis, damson plum, milk chocolate, and cocoa powder with delicate Chinese five spice nuances. In the mouth, the texture is liquid silk, creamy, plush, and expansive with a weightless concentration and incredibly powdery soft tannins that are enlivened by well integrated tangy acids and a lush cola-tinged finish. Seamless, creamy, and undeniably seductive with a wonderful approachability already, this is exactly what sophisticated Pomerol drinkers want in an earlier drinking expression. Drink now to 2035+.
(Wine Safari Score: 93/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
The wines of Chateau Seraphine and Clos Cantenac are imported into the UK by fine wine specialist merchant Museum Wines.
With Bordeaux En-primeur 2023 about to get into full swing, 2023 is indeed one of the most interesting and intriguing vintages in recent years. I visited Bordeaux from the 13th to the 20th September and visited a number of top Chateaux to walk the vineyards and inspect the quality of the grapes. After visits to left bank chateaux including Pedesclaux, Cap Leon Veyrin, and Pichon Baron as well as visits to right bank properties Figeac, Clos Cantenac and Chateau Seraphine, I concluded that the grape quality was indeed excellent.
The original doubts surrounding the vintage were cast after a prolonged spell of wet and humid conditions that struck vineyards at the end of June and early July, leading to intense mildew pressures. With the correct treatments, yields would have been slightly reduced but quality certainly does not seem to have been compromised at the top properties.
Walking through the Chateau Seraphine vineyard in mid-September 2023.
Whilst 2023 might be remembered as a year of extremes, it also produced some very favourable conditions at crucial times throughout the growing season including a warm dry spring that led to an early growth spurt and gave the vines time to establish themselves before the summer heatwaves arrived. With any serious damaged avoided during the frosts on the 4th and 5th of April, weather improved steadily in May with a very successful flowering and fruit set before a prolonged period of wet and humid conditions followed in late June, bringing with it a serious threat of mildew damage.
With Martin Krajewski in his Pomerol vineyards in September 2023.
From mid-July onwards temperatures were generally cooler than 2022, although they did regularly hit 30c in August and overall conditions remained favourable with red grape harvesting commencing on the 13th of September. The overall quality of the 2023 harvest is considered outstanding.
Petit Cantenac 2023, Saint Emilion Grand Cru, 14% Abv.
The 2023 Petit Cantenac is a blend of 80% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Franc and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon that seduces from the very first waft of perfume and macerated black berry fruits in the glass. A little darker and broodier than the Clos Cantenac, the aromatics are once again dense and compact revealing rich notes of macerated black plums, black cherries, hoisin plum sauce, tannery leather and delicate hints of graphite spice. The palate shows impressive balance and symmetry all built around sensual, creamy, fine-grained tannins, supple black berry and black cherry fruits and a limestone mineral spice enlivened on the finish with a bright, seamlessly integrated seam of acidity. Showing attractively bold Cabernet characters in its youth, this is another very finely honed and constructed Petit Cantenac that offers a glimpse of the vintage’s warmth and ripeness while simultaneously retaining a certain amount of classical restraint. Really very classy indeed and undoubtedly… excellent value for money.
(Wine Safari Score: 94-95/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Clos Cantenac 2023, St Emilion Grand Cru, 14% Abv.
This attractive 2023 Clos Cantenac is an exotic 100% Merlot Saint Emilion Grand Cru and displays the luxurious opulence and ripeness of this warm sunny vintage. Vibrant, plush, and deep, the aromatics show intricate notes of macerated black cherries, black berries, raspberries and damson plums together with hints of pressed violets, fresh tobacco leaf, tilled earth, incense, mocha and vanilla pod spice. The palate is fabulously full and textured, dense and mouth-filling with very sweet fine-grained ripe tannins, layers of salty black currant and black cherry fruits, all punctuated by a lingering vein of acid freshness. Perfectly weighted, rich and harmonious but also elegantly accessible and polished, this could be one of the finest young Clos Cantenac vintages I have tasted to date. A real beauty of the vintage.
(Wine Safari Score: 95-97/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
L’Innocence de Seraphine 2023, Pomerol, 14% Abv.
The 2023 L’Innocence de Seraphine is a blend of 75% Merlot and 25% Cabernet Franc and displays seductively opulent aromatics of perfumed violets and lilies, sweet damson plums, black cherries, blueberries, vanilla essence, freshly cut cedar and sweet exotic Asian spices. The palate is beautifully pinpoint and precise with a sleek, polished texture of saline black berry fruits, crème de cassis, picante dark chocolate and fresh cigars with subtle mineral limestone nuances. The palate shows impressive power and focus with supple, pliant tannins enrobed by ripe black berry fruits, mellow acids, hints of cola and salted caramel, finishing with notes of vanilla pod, mocha and savoury macerated berries. A delightful wine with striking mid-palate weight, power, and balance sufficient to rival most producers’ Grand Vins.
(Wine Safari Score: 93-95/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Chateau Seraphine 2023, Pomerol, 14.5% Abv.
The 2023 Seraphine Pomerol is another incredibly dense, intense, hedonistic 100% Merlot creation boasting an almost impenetrable black opaque colour, massive extract, and exotic aromatics of white flowers, macerated black cherries, black currants, cola, freshly tilled earth, graphite, cloves and subtle hoisin plum sauce nuances. The palate is plush, full bodied and incredible concentrated, bursting with mouthwatering layers of blueberries, black currant pastille, black cherries and milk chocolate before subtle hints of salty black liquorice and brown toast on the long, persistent finish. This is an incredibly compelling wine with a spellbinding appeal, mouth coating sweet ripe tannins, and a distinctive seam of fresh, bristling acidity that adds requisite tension and delineation to the velvety Merlot fruit. This is up there with some of the finest vintages of Seraphine produced to date. (Only 4,400 bottle production.)
Regarded as one of the true rising stars of Pomerol and the right bank, Charlotte Krajewski, daughter of owner Martin Krajewski, has overseen winemaking at the Chateau Seraphine property since 2017 as the Technical Director and Chief Wine Maker after previously travelling and working extensively in France, Australia, USA and more latterly New Zealand in Hawkes Bay.
Their vineyards have an overall surface of 2.2 hectares but is split into two parcels of vines. At Plince they have one hectare of vines situated on a well-draining slope of sandy topsoil over clay and deep gravels and 0.4ha of this plot was replanted with Cabernet Franc in April 2017 at 8000 vines per/ha. The second block at Mazeyres is 1.2ha and is also laid out in two distinct sections. The first part consists of a raised deposit of deep gravels on 0.6ha and is planted with old Merlot vines. The second part sits on a gently sloping 0.6ha and is a patchwork of shallow sandy soils over gravels and blue clay (smectite) and was replanted with Merlot in April 2017 at 8,000 plants per/h.
The growing year started slowly but was followed by a series of heat waves, a drought and heavy rain in late September although Seraphine also enjoyed an almost endless dry summer that led to a very fine harvest. During the 2019 growing year Seraphine decided to maintain a slightly higher density canopy and so did only a light leaf-thinning in the early season on the side of the rising sun. Then in early August they also did a green harvest to adjust the crop size and to take pressure off the vines after the long warm summer.
In the winery, the harvested fruit was carefully loaded from small baskets onto a first-sorting table and then de-stemmed using their precision CUBE system followed by a berry hand-sorting table and a gentle crushing before arriving in the fermentation tanks by gravity. The average yield was approximately 35hl/ha for the older vines although not all of the fruit went into the Grand Vin, and 25hl/ha for the younger vines, which was used exclusively for the ‘second’ wine.
Chateau Seraphine L’ Innocence de Seraphine 2019, Pomerol, 14% Abv.
Surely the expectations for a premium 100% Merlot Pomerol from a top vintage like 2019 will be high and this second wine certainly does not disappoint. The aromatics are accessible, rich, broad and expressive with high toned notes of violets and lilac over hints of tilled loamy earth, wet clay, earthy black plum, burnt wood embers, bitter black chocolate, dried coconut flakes and bruleed coffee beans. The palate is equally inviting with soft, spicy, pithy layers of chocolatey black berry fruits, dusty graphite, vanilla pod, black tea, stewed cherries and exotic baking spices. The tannins are classically mineral and piquant offering structural support to the supple dark berry fruits ensuring serious drinking pleasure for true Bordeaux connoisseurs. Drink this now or cellar comfortably for another 5 to 8+ years.
(Wine Safari Score: 93+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
This wine is available in the UK at £59.99pb from Museum Wines.
The De Mour Pomerol is a special Cuvee Bordeaux produced by the Belgian De Schepper – De Mour family and whose wines are for the most part sold in the Benelux, Scandinavia and the UK. The De Schepper family commenced a large scale investment spree in the mid to late 1990’s, bringing the various Chateaux under their ownership into the modern winemaking era, combining Bordeaux’s various sought after terroirs with high-end technology and traditional know-how to create a range of authentic artisanal wines with great opulence, finesse, modernity and personality under the watchful eye of highly respected head winemaker, Jean-Michel Garcion.
The De Schepper – De Mour Bordeaux portfolio now includes several flagship Chateaux in the Haut Medoc, Margaux and St Emilion appellations. Respected for their excellent quality and value for money, their portfolio is now a go-to source for merchants seeking out top quality, direct shipment Chateaux wines from Bordeaux.
De Mour Pomerol 2017, Bordeaux, 13.5% Abv.
This is a fabulously big, bold, opulent Pomerol with an enticing ruby / purple colour and an extravagant and extroverted aromatics of stewed black plums, cherry kirsch liquor, black currant and cherry confit with just a hint of vanilla essence, kelp and subtle top notes of bonfire smoke. The palate is fleshy, showy, rich and boldly ostentatious showing lush, creamy tannins generously supported by sweet black currant fruit intensity, salty cassis, black liquorice and an assortment of other exotic flavours straight from a Michelin Star restaurant’s dessert trolley. Full and fleshy but also finely balanced with fresh acids and spicy mineral tannins, you can drink this wine in its precocious youth to experience its full, succulent personality or age for 6 to 8+ years to experience some tertiary delights. Definitely one for the Bordeaux hedonists.
(Wine Safari Score: 94+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
For more information or direct shipment prices ex-cellar, contact: Anthony Crameri – anthony_crameri@orange.fr
I’m very fortunate to meet up with some very gifted and highly talented winemakers who oversee the production of some of the great icon wines of the world. As a bit of pre-En Primeur 2018 campaign orientation, I caught up with Omri Ram from Chateau Lafleur in London to contemplate the true potential of the 2018 vintage and also reflect on some older classics over lunch.
Omri Ram presenting a selection of 2018 Barrel Samples in the Justerini & Brooks cellars
My initial Chateau Lafleur 2018 Barrel sample rating came in at a lofty 97-98/100 GSMW for what almost certainly must rate as one of the top wines of the vintage. But more interestingly, after the 2018 sample we got to drink some older vintages over a superb lunch laid on by Chateau Lafleur’s UK agent, Justerini & Brooks.
Pensees de Lafleur 2009, Pomerol, 14.5 Abv.
A very small vintage for Pensees, the nose is superbly fragrant, perfumed, earthy and expressive with layers of black currant, sweet tobacco, lavendar and earthy cassis. The palate is super polished, elegant and an all round uber suave crowd pleaser with a very sophisticated manner. Does not put a foot out of place. Classical, elegant yet open and overt, this is a wine for Bordeaux lovers looking to start tucking into a very smart, earlier drinking icon wine!
(Wine Safari Score: 93+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Chateau Lafleur 2007, Pomerol (Magnum), 13.5 Abv.
Along with 1999, Omri Ram’s favourite wine to drink. The end of an era where there was more Merlot that Cabernet Franc. An underestimated vintage for sure that in many ways breaks the stigma of the “7s” curse. 67, 77, 87, 97… etc. This wine is now beauty personified. Fragrant ethereal perfume wafts from the glass with intense nuances of cedar spice, caramelised cranberries, plum liquor and black berry depth. Underpinning the whole expression of the wine is dusty, stony minerality with the most incredible elegance, satin soft tannins and sublime harmony. If the Queen was coming for dinner and you knew she loved Claret, this would be the dream ticket to seal the relationship! Benchmark Pomerol.
(Wine Safari Score: 95/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Chateau Lafleur 2000, Pomerol, 13.5 Abv.
This block buster vintage displays a wonderfully expressive nose of gunpowder, struck flint, graphite, piquant black berry and herby grassy spice notes. Quite soft, fleshy and accessible, this wine has density, gravitas, concentration and weight of fruit with a subtle soft rounding acidity with a plush, creamy mineral tannin texture. Still youthful but deliciously opulent and seductive now. Start drinking but no rush at all. An iconic vintage from an iconic winery.
Excellent tasting today with Omri Ram from Chateau Lafleur. A lot of intrigue surrounds the 2017 vintage in general and Omri feels they have a slightly different storyline to their neighbours. For Chateau Lafleur, 2017 was a good continuation of 2016 in a dry mode and rising temperatures. A hot beginning and an early start to the season normally leads to a great finish. But vine growth starting early exposes the vines to a frost risk, which has not struck in a serious way in Bordeaux since 1991. In that year, Lafleur made only 8 barrels compared to a long term average of 40 to 50 barrels and the trauma is sorely remembered.
In 2014 they bought anti-frost bucket candles, deploying 1500 of them in the vineyards in 2017 the day before the frost struck. With forecasts of frost, the candles were lit which acted to stabilised the temperatures to around 0.82 degrees C while neighbours vineyards dropped to -3 or -4 degrees C, resulting in severe losses to young green shoots.
Vintage comparisons… according to Omri Ram…
2015 = like a super 2009
2016 = like a super 2010
2017 = also more like a 2016-styled wine
Chateau Lafleur Cellar Master Omri Ram
Chateau Grand Village Rouge 2017, Bordeaux Superieur
97% Merlot and 3% Cabernet Franc in the 2017 blend with a very pure clay-limestone expression. Big, plump, opulent nose brimming with black fruits and limestone linearity. The palate is beautifully taut, crisp and pure, showing beautiful freshness, clarity of fruit and wonderful harmonious length. A real triumph for the vintage.
100% Merlot picked on the 21st of September and 2017 is the first and possibly last vintage to be made from pure Merlot. Normally the blend includes up to 50% Cabernet Franc. Almost like a mini-Lafleur in essence, only 1,200 bottles were produced. Full and expressive on the nose, there are wonderful black plum notes, buttered brown toast, blackberry confit with just a dusting of mocha and cocoa powder. Super elegant palate, very pinpoint and precise, excellent purity, harmony and subtlety with a soft, feminine, sultry length.
(Wine Safari Score: 90-92+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Les Pensees de Chateau Lafleur 2017
Smallest parcel in Lafleur at 0.69 hectares. Not made as a second wine to Lafleur, more as a defined expression from the same clay dominated parcel. Using 52% Merlot and 48% Cabernet Franc, the aromatics are more vibrant, crunchy and fresh revealing hints of cassis reduction, graphite and a saline, kirsch note. The palate boasts sweet violet tinged black berry, cherry confit with fine core depth and a plush, long length. An accessible, classy expression.
With vineyards unharmed by the frost, the blend is 47% Merlot and 53% Cabernet Franc. Merlot was picked before the rains on the 8-12th September as the fruit was beautifully ripe. The aromatics are wonderfully precise, pure and focused, with black bramble berry fruits, black cherry and blackberry jam on buttered brown toast. The palate is broad and expansive, filling the mouth, coating it with concentrated black plum, creamy saline cassis, milk chocolate nuances and chalky, gravelly fine tannins. Wonderful front palate weight, a dense core of fruit and a really profound textural harmony and elegance. Still embryonic, this wine has the genetics and the pedigree to be another fantastic Lafleur vintage.
Note: The lovely red wines of Lafleur were blended already at the end of January 2018, allowing almost the full passage of maturation to take place as a “finished wine” in oak. Usually a more common practice of the past Omri says, but nowadays, most chateaux show “cleverly constructed wines” with a notional blend drawn from the best barrels to show trade buyers at En-primeur. So yet another subtle level of authenticity in the portfolio of the Guinaudeau family reds.
I remember back during the 2008 Lehman Bros. banking crash period, how wine merchants the country over reported seeing a massive and sudden consumer movement back to the French classics. Apparently this trend manifested itself at all levels, from supermarkets up to fine wine merchants.
As a buyer for a niche high-end merchant in London, I can confirm after a brief look over sales figures by region for these years, that this certainly was the case for us. In the mainstream, stats were undoubtedly influenced by the parallel factor of a strengthening Aussie and Kiwi dollar against the pound, which raised prices by 20%-30%+ over a very short period of time. As key volume component players in the UK market, a drop in sales was perhaps inevitable for these countries. But was there more to it than economics at work?
Pollsters reported that consumer behaviour flocked back to the security and safety of the classics that espouse a sense of quality, prestige, and a subconscious feel-good factor.
Well, my Sunday lunch today definitely stuck to the classics, with a sensational bottle of Comte Lafond Sancerre 2014 (94/100) kicking off proceedings, followed by an opulent, but very attractive Chateau Le Bon Pasteur 2011 Pomerol from Michel Roland to match the roast chicken. Both hit the spot perfectly.
I think perhaps South Africa has had more recent success in cracking the food and wine pairing category although Californian classics are very compatible too. It is perhaps the riper sunshine styles from Australia, New Zealand, Chile and Argentina that have fallen behind the fine dining food & wine matching curve? My figures are anecdotal, but with many South African producers making fresher styles of wine, with reds exhibiting crisper, crunchier acids and sappy, spicy minerality at lower alcohol levels, these wines will undoubtedly appeal to European sommeliers and consumers alike.
Tasting Note: The Le Bon Pasteur 2011 Pomerol, an 80% blend of Merlot and 20% Cabernet Sauvignon, was rich and opulent with complex multiple layers of sweet black cherry, cassis, salty Victoria plum with a hint of liquorice on the finish. What makes this wine so appealing is its intense concentration and vibrant fresh acids that make it perfect with food. At 14 abv, it’s not a “cool” style Bordeaux, but it is certainly perfectly balanced with the most lush fruit balanced with sweet tannins and seamlessly integrated oak. Certainly the best estate wine in the Roland Collection in my opinion. (Wine Safari Score: 94/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
When it comes to food and wine matching, new world wines with their varying degrees of sweet fruit, lower acids and sunshine ripeness, will always struggle to compete with the fresh acids, austere restrained fruit intensity and dry minerality of an old world classic, whether from Bordeaux, Burgundy or the Rhone.
But this is an important factor that I believe weighs heavily on new world producers and is one that drives them vehemently to achieve better freshness, structure and restraint. No bad thing!
