Château Les Cruzelles, Lalande de Pomerol, 2022
This is the third vintage made by Noémie Durantou and Olivier Gautrat, and for us the most successful range to date. From the juicy griotte character of the Saintayme to the imperious L'Eglise Clinet, every wine displays its distinctive terroir signature with aplomb. The blend is exactly the same as La Chenade, with the same harvest dates for the Merlot (1st-7th Sept) and the Cabernet Franc harvested just three days later than its sister property (12th Sept), but that's were similarities end... Aromatically this is quite lifted with touches of leaf and tobacco with dark cherry, red fruits and spice. On the palate this is denser and more on the fruit than Chenade. There are some of those sweet, floral cherries found in Saintayme mixed with bristling dark hedgerow and touches of cocoa. This is layered, concentrated and textural; a very serious Lalande a Pomerol, but perhaps not as bright and charming as its compatriot.
critic reviews
The 2022 Les Cruzelles has an exuberant, quite showy bouquet with mainly red fruit mixed with wild hedgerow, liquorice and allspice scents. The palate is medium-bodied with succulent ripe tannins, a keen line of acidity, more linear on the finish than expected, especially after the aromatics. I think this will come good after three to five years in bottle. Tasted blind at the Southwold tasting in London.
This is 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Franc, and the élevage was in 50% new oak. A beautifully perfumed nose, showing a little more spicy complexity than La Chenade, with rosehips, leather, peony and currant, laced with a crystalline, mineral edge. This leads to a precisely defined and pointed character, on the palate, with a finely polished surface of fruit, and a focused backbone of finely grained tannins. Deliciously bright and pure, with a focus and delineation not seen in La Chenade (or in Saintayme, for that matter). The alcohol is 14.6% on analysis.
A vintage that captures the spirit of this beautiful wine. Great lift and kick of sweet baking spice, chalky tannins that give texture alongside a kick of salinity and crushed rocks, soy and cocoa-dusted almonds, fennel, great stuff. 50% new oak, less vintage impact than its sibling estate La Chenade.
More serious and structured than La Chenade, the 2022 Les Cruzelles unwinds in the glass with aromas of cherries and blackberries mingled with hints of licorice and mint. Medium to full-bodied, lively and layered, it's built around powdery structuring tannins that gently assert themselves on the finish.