TN: 05 Ch. Richelieu 'La Favorite' [Fronsac]

[AKR]

05 Ch. Richelieu 'La Favorite' [Fronsac] This is a luxe cuvee combining the best blocs in Richelieu's vineyard, with extra oak for this bottling. 14% abv. I've not had this before, and have hardly had any Fronsacs in recent years, although I've gone a few Fontnils lurking around I'm sure. It's mostly merlot, with a slug of cab franc in there, but there is a lot of tannin. A friend and I threw this back after a walk, thinking that age 12 it would be a smooth afternoon quaffer, but its too chewy for that. Tannic, structured, and still oaky -- more of a fall dinner wine. These are old vine, low cropped (20 hl/ha), small production wines (maybe 300-500 cases) that get the full consultant treatment, Derononcourt in this case. I wanted to like it more than I did, but this example was a B. Maybe decanting and food would have upped that. Critics gave it high regard and thought it ageable, but it feels overwrought to me. Maybe I'd have a different opinion if we'd had it with cheese or sausage, rather than just on the veranda, by itself.

I have a hard time believing it, but the label claims that Cardinal RIchelieu - of literary and historical fame - used to own this estate.

[AlexR]

Hi Arv,

This one belongs to the the Chinese. I've never been impressed.

AR

[AKR]

It seems like they have followed a formulaic path to high scores.