Château Cantemerle, 5eme Cru Classé, Haut Medoc, 2012
Another excellent effort from this Medoc Fifth Growth. A classical bouquet of cassis, cooked meats and smouldering embers leads to a fine, juicy mid-palate of hedgerow fruit, supported by well judged tannins. Nice sapidity to the fruit, fresh and engaging. Not the most profound wine of the vintage, but it'll provide lots of early to mid-term drinking pleasure.
critic reviews
Soft brambled fruits, earthy and old school, tender tannins, waves of rosebud and raspberry leaf, short on the finish but with real charm. 40% new oak for ageing, Eric Boissenot consultant, Philippe Dambrine consultant.
The 2012 Cantemerle is medium garnet-brick colored. Dried herbs, damp soil, and tobacco notes emerge over a core of redcurrant jelly and dried plums. Light to medium-bodied, the palate is a little thin and drying, finishing chewy.
The 2012 Cantemerle has a leafy bouquet with light tobacco notes filtering through the black fruit. The palate is medium-bodied with quite sharp acidity, very fresh, almost tart in style with a piquant finish. There is a little coarseness, though it serves well as a no-frills Haut-Médoc. Tasted blind at the Southwold Ten-Year On tasting.
With a dense, ruby/purple color, low acidity, ripe tannin and well above-average depth, this is really an elegant, cleanly made, pure style of wine, with floral notes, mixed with blueberry and black cherry. Its medium bodied, with light tannin and is best drunk over the next 10-12 years.