I’ll cut to the chase fast: This wine is wonderful.
If you like classic Bordeaux, one that exudes class and balance even in a warm year, this is it.
Graphite, florals and hint of barn on the nose. Some smoke. Cool red fruit, crisp, with some subtle dark cherries. Meaty, dense, chewy tannins. Sweet, dusty tannic finish. A structured wine that will reward some cellaring. Enjoyable now, but this wine should reward those that are patient. Built along the same classic lines as a Lanessan, but just oh so much better all around, while both are simply tremendous buys.
Readily available around $40, this is a stellar buy in 2009 Bordeaux. I would have guessed a 2010 if served blind. (92+ pts)
Got a 6L of this laying down in OWC for my sons 21st bday. Lasered the top of the lid with his likeness as a baby and put a little time capsule in the case as well to what is in the news, popular and prices of stuff. Should be fun to drink that in 2030!! Thanks for the note!!
I got my 2009 Cantemerle from PC for $32 early in the futures game. Given how PC’s prices for Bordeaux futures are usually the cheapest in the country (and I use wine-searcher/pro), I am not sure where the 2009 could have been offered for $17.
Been sitting outside with the last half of my bottle, enjoying another perfect cool evening in Central Florida. This wine has opened up more, and candidly, if you like young wines, this wine is fairly open right now, a creature of the vintage. Tannins are still there, but the aeration has evolved the texture of the wine, softened the edges. Lots of earth in this young wine. Amazing to get a 13% APR wine in this vintage. I detect no heat, no new oak in this wine. This is my type of Bordeaux.
I’ve had the 09 Cantemerle once, and I liked it a lot too.
Here’s my note from 12/2013:
Inky color. Sports a restrained bouquet of sweet black currants, tar, herbs, spicy anise. Notes of jammy sur maturité appear later on the nose. To taste, lots of minerals, black tea, concentrated blueberry juice. Fleshy, good brightness for an '09, medium bodied, lots of tannins on the finish. Extract and alcohol seem balanced. Big tannins, not really ready for prime time at present despite a long decant, but drinkable now. This has potential, showing a combo of ripeness and tradition, fingers crossed this goes somewhere special with more time. It will be fun to follow where this goes when mature, does the raw fruity/tannic profile morph into a mature, complex, cedar/tobacco driven claret? 90 pts today.
Don´t trust the alc. levels printed on the label. They don´t tell the truth. No good wine of the 2009 vintage is low in alc. I think the Cantemerle is about 14% more or less.
In the big french supermarket chains, whose prices on wines like these generally cannot be beat, this were around 25 Euros. I’ve seen it in many chains (also the 2010) with very stable prices. I bought quite a few of both vintages.
If you like classic claret, Cantemerle is one of the ever dwindling holdouts. Sure the price may have doubled since 2000 but that is irrelevant to me, I wasn’t buying wine then. I think Cantemerle still represents good value in Bordeaux and buy it most every vintage. If you’re comfortable in this price category, I’d recommend buying a few based on my experience with the chateau (though not this vintage, which are asleep at offsite). I’ll likely check in on these in ~2020.
Very nice update as I seem to enjoy the wines that Robert likes. Glad I have a 6-pk. I think I paid something in the $45 range on futures.![[welldone.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/f/fc9709a841aa9379fd892a9cf0b535b05f473b86.gif "[welldone.gif]"){kind=small}