Community Tasting Note

Brmaso wrote:

Tuesday, April 9, 2013 - Not as inky as its peers, the 2009 Ch Chantemerle still has a deep, dark red violet red hue. Brimming with aromas of pen ink, dark wild cherries and berries, smoked meat, slightly brett tinged forest floor (not in the barnyard or bandaid style) and graphite, a well defined aromatic personality emerges that begs one to almost question the vintage. On the nose, this is a stylistic juxtaposition of new meets old world Bordeaux. Classicists will be happy to find less use of new oak than its peers, and lovers of ripe vintage bordeaux will be let down by the lack of intense fruit that screams 2009 Bordeaux. The fruit contained in this juice does mimic the style of the vintage, just not to the same level of concentration of its peers.

A fleshy mouthfeel for the old world style is evident even before the midpalate. Also on the attack is black fruits and ink. The flavor is smudgy and lacks dilineation, probably due to the faint touch of VA and high alcohol; this carves a small hole from the midpalate. Nevertheless, the wine is well structured, displaying the tannin shape and structure of 2009, which can best be described as velvet or satin. While super concentrated from a phenolic perspective, the wine's tannin are not intrusive because of the gentle nature of this vintage's style (again, velvety tannin). The finish is hot from the alcohol permeating through the slightly incohesive balance. While ringing up at only 14% (which is only moderately high for this vintage compared to some of its peers), the alcohol does come through to the pencil shaving dominated finish.

All and all a solid Bdx for the money, but there are better buys. The brett in this wine adds a ton of character, and adds to the wine, so do not take this as a flaw. There are more crowd pleasing Medocs at this price point, and ones that are more well made with a similar personality (Ch Le Pey, for instance). But if you do like ripe vintage bordeaux made in the old style, then this wine is worth a try. The combination is more complex than most of its competitors in this price range, and the outcome borders on eccentric confusion.

Drink from release to 2018, conservatively.

Tasted 5 times with consistant notes, scores ranging from 86-89+
BM

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