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| Drinking Windows and Values |
| Drinking window: Drink between 2014 and 2021 (based on 4 user opinions) |
| Community Tasting History |
| Community Tasting Notes (average 87.5 pts. and median of 88 pts. in 6 notes) - hiding notes with no text | | | Tasted by THA on 2/16/2013: Give this about 4 hours of air, after which it softens and opens up to show the ripeness and grip of the vintage. A tasty wine? Sure. Is it worth $20? Sure. But that's where it ends. It lacks character, singularity, and any expression of place. Fails to impress. Unmemorable. I've had several recent vintages of Caronne Ste. Gemme, and, except for a very good 2002 in my opinion, I don't remember any of them. If this 2010 is said to be the best this estate has to offer, I doubt I'll ever buy one again. Ch. Senejac is still the Left Bank to beat for $20. (959 views) | | | Tasted by Keith Levenberg on 2/8/2013 & rated 85 points: Very different from the 2009, though I'm not sure how much being a year younger is a factor. It's certainly more primary and less winey but it's also more spinal, almost to the point of being a little shrill. The fruit material has more breadth and maybe also a little more polish. (1477 views) | | | Tasted by Ken332 on 2/3/2013 & rated 89 points: This is a very nice 2010 Bordeaux. Did not decant. To be served with grilled NY strip steak. Lovely nose of earth, casis, and berries with a full mouthfeel and moderate, but soft tanins in the finish, partly hiddent by the fruit in the front end. This is the best Caronne Ste. Gheme I have had and a strong testament to the quality of this vintage. Good wine for a very good price and given the structure, should last for 5-8 years. (855 views) | | | Tasted by Jasper May on 1/13/2013 & rated 89 points: Dark black/purple - initially quite a bit of toasted oak, then blackberries & menthol. Medium bodied, smooth and taut, quite tannic on the finish. Undeveloped as of yet, classy - jolly good - and for the price: quite fantastic. (988 views) | | | Tasted by Julian Marshall on 1/12/2013: Fresh blackberry nose, with a touch of menthol; after a couple of hours, hints of cranberry and blackcurrant.
In the mouth, an immediately seductive taste of blackberry cordial, with high level of acidity that keeps the taste high on the palate. It's medium bodied, sleek, slick and elegant, full of finesse, very reminiscent of Haut Batailley. I don't know why, but I thought of kitchens! This is like one of those sleek aluminium and steel ones, as opposed to the "old" wood variety.
I was surprised at how accessible the wine is already, I was expecting something more tannic. There are tannins, but they're well integrated and not obtrusive. The finish is quite deceptively persistent and long. The fruit is not as juicy as in the 09s I've tried so far, but very enticing nevertheless. It can be drunk with pleasure now, but it needs another three or four years to settle down and should peak in seven or eight.
This is everything a Cru Bourgeois should be - a wine accessible young, yet which will age well over fifteen years or so.
I've often enjoyed Caronne Sainte Gemme in the past, but this is much better than any previous vintages. Highly recommended and marvellous value. (959 views) |
| Château Caronne Ste. Gemme Producer Website
The vineyard was first reported in 1648 when a local landlord, Denis de Mullet of La Tour StLambert rented it to a farmer in exchange for the wines produced.
Caronne is derived from "Carona" the name of a local spring source, and Gemme a corruption of "James".
In the middle-ages the locality was a parish on the grounds of a subsidiary to the Templar Headquaters at nearby Benon a few kilometers inland. Pilgrims on their way to Saint Jacques de Compostelle, having crossed the estuary from Blaye, would rest here before continuing their way across the Landes to the Spanish Border.
The Parish was abolished during the Revolution and it is about this time that the first records of wine production at Caronne appear.
In 1900 ownership of Caronne passed to Emile and Eugène Borie. The sons of Eugène would later cede their shares to their uncle and purchase Ch. Batailley and later Ducru-Beaucaillou while Emile's descendents would remain the sole owners of Caronne until this day.
The property is now managed by Jean, grandson of Emile and François, his nephew.
__Technical Notes__
Classification : Cru Bourgeois Supèrieur of Haut-Médoc in 1932 and Cru Bourgeois Exeptionnel in the 1966 contest.
Geographic Situation : In the St Laurent Médoc area and in the direct neighbourhood of the vineyards of Gruaud Larose, Lagrange, Belgrave, Camensac and Lanessan.
The Vineyard is made up of 45 hectares (113 acres) of a single tenant, planted on a mound of first class gravel on a base of iron rich sandstone, a little more sandy to the east, a little more clayey to the west. The vine varieties are of 60% cabernet sauvignon, 3% petit verdot and 37% merlot.
The average age of the vines is 25 years old.
The density of planting is the traditional 10.000 vines per hectare.
Harvesting is 70% manual and 30% machine.
The wine making follows very much the pattern of the " Grand Cru " chateaux. The grapes are destalked, then slightly crushed and sent into fermentation vats which are either stainless steel or cement with an epoxy coating and allways thermo-regulated. Fermentation is lead at the temperature of 28/30° celsius with light " over the top " pumping for a soft extraction of the skins.
The maceration can last up to three weeks.
The ageing of 12 months is made exclusively in the 1.000 french barrels of 225 L., of which 25% are renewed each year.
The wine is fined with eggwhites and finally bottled at the vineyard 20 months after it is harvested.
Red Bordeaux Blend Read about the grapes used to produce Bordeaux The variety Red Bordeaux Blend in CellarTracker implies any blend using any or all of the five traditional Bordeaux varieties: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and Malbec. As such, this is used worldwide, whether for wines from Bordeaux, Meritages from California and Canada, some Super-Tuscan wines etc.France Vins de France (Office National Interprofessionnel des Vins ) | Pages Vins, Directory of French Winegrowers | French Wine (Wikipedia)Bordeaux Vins Bordeaux (Conseil Interprofessionnel du Vin de Bordeaux) | Simple Bordeaux primer
- History of Bordeaux - History of 1855 Bordeaux ClassificationMédoc Vins du Médoc (Conseil des Vins du Médoc) - Read More about the Medoc
The eight precisely defined appellations of the whole of the Médoc (from Blanquefort Brook to the north of the Bordeaux built-up area, almost to the Pointe de Grave) may claim the Médoc appellation. But there is also a specific territory in the north of the peninsula which produces exclusively wines with this appellation. In the great majority, the Médocs come from the north of the peninsula. The great individuality of this region is that the number of vines has increased more recently here than elsewhere, apart from a few isolated spots where vines have grown for many years. Today, the size of the small estate has brought about the development of a powerful co-operative movement. Four co-operatives out of five belong to the group called Unimédoc which ensures aging, bottling and marketing a large proportion of their wines.Haut-Médoc Read more about Haut Medoc and its wines Long-standing fame The legally created division into Médoc and Haut-Médoc dates from 1935. But as long ago as 1815 a Chartrons broker, whose word carried weight, spoke of great red wines in the Haut-Médoc, so recognizing the high quality successfully achieved by this region's growers in the eighteenth century. The same Bordeaux broker revealed that the business world of the Chartrons and the great Bordeaux proprietors had established a sort of league-table of the parishes in which the vine-growing communes of today's Haut-Médoc appellation showed up well.
The Haut-Médoc appellation stretches over some thirty seven miles from north to south, from Saint-Seurin de Cadourne to Blanquefort. Within this area, certain zones produce wines exclusively with the Haut-Médoc appellation. It has terroirs of remarkable quality. And although we may note a certain predominance of layers of gravel (essentially Garonne gravel) from the Quaternary, all these sites are characterized by their wide diversity. Today in the southernmost communes of the appellation, the suburbs of Bordeaux, numerous vineyards which existed at the beginning of the twentieth century have disappeared, victims of urban expansion. But the vines live on... because man has retained his devotion to them.
The astonishing variety of different terroirs, the result of the very extent of the area, explains the diversity of Haut-Médoc wines, a fact which is rare within one and the same appellation.
But, over and above the differences, linked to this mosaic of climatic and geological influence, all these wines have the same family traits of character.
Alert and lively, full-bodied without being too powerful, and harmoniously balanced, they acquire a rare bouquet over the years.
In order to have the right to the Haut-Médoc appellation of controlled origin, red wines must:
- come from the communes of Blanquefort, Le Taillan, Parempuyre, Le Pian, Ludon, Macau, Arsac, Labarde, Cantenac, Margaux, Avensan, Castelnau, Soussans, Arcins, Moulis, Listrac, Lamarque, Cussac, Saint-Laurent de Médoc, Saint-Julien, Pauillac, Saint-Sauveur, Cissac, Saint-Estèphe, Vertheuil, Saint-Seurin de Cadourne "excluding all the parcels situated on recent alluvium and sand on impermeable subsoils",
- satisfy precise production conditions : grape-varieties (Cabernet-Sauvignon, Cabernet-Franc, Carmenère, Merlot Noir, Petit Verdot, Cot or Malbec), minimum of sugar (178 grammes - 6.27 oz. - per litre of must) degree (an acquired 10°5) base yield (48 hectolitres per hectare).
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