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2001 Château La Tour Carnet |
| Vintage | 2001 |  Label 1 of 10   | |
| Type | Red | ||
| Producer | Château La Tour Carnet | ||
| Variety | Red Bordeaux Blend | ||
| Designation | n/a | ||
| Vineyard | n/a | ||
| Country | France | ||
| Region | Bordeaux | ||
| SubRegion | Médoc | ||
| Appellation | Haut-Médoc |
| Community Tasting History |
Community Tasting Notes (average 90.7 pts. and median of 91 pts. in 35 notes) | |
| Tasted by d'Artagnan on 9/6/2009 & rated 89 points: à Québec. Excellent Médoc aux aromes de fumée, de crayon de plomb, de cèdre et de prunes. Rond et charmeur, très satisfaisant. (574 views) | |
| Tasted by Roel van Gestel on 7/12/2009 & rated 92 points: Pop and pour from a case I bought en primeur years ago. Fresh and alive nose with cherry, cassis, lavender, meat, mocha and coffee. Nice and crisp! On the palate refined, but with a solid concentration too. Cherry, licorice, plum, mocha, leather, minerals. Very elegant, but with great depth and length too. This is a superb wine! Good acidity, fine tannines and showing nicely at age 8. This is not New World, because it has that 'cool' presence. It's not Old World, because it is full of ripe, lush fruit. Great QPR. Long finish. 92-93 points. (737 views) | |
| Tasted by Ivin on 3/7/2009 & rated 92 points: One of the best QPR's of all time. Perfect balance of ripe (but not overripe) fruit, tannin, oak and acidity. Tannins are starting to smooth out. Has a floral quality a la a Margaux. Hard to believe one could buy a wine like this for $17! (1435 views) | |
| Tasted by DFC on 1/24/2009 & rated 91 points: (1253 views) | |
| Tasted by d'Artagnan on 1/8/2009 & rated 91 points: Verticale La Tour Carnet. Joli nez de cuir et de cassis (noir), un vin rond, assez concentré, avec de bon tannins soyeux en finale. Fort bien fait, fraicheur et équilibre exemplaires, un Médoc bien typé et savoureux, qui gagnera en complexité d’ici 2-4 ans. Je croyais avoir affaire au 2000 à cause de cette belle rondeur de fruit mûr. Excellent, supérieur au 2000 et 2002. (1422 views) | |
| Tasted by bachge on 12/14/2008 & rated 93 points: (1265 views) | |
| Tasted by Tubbs on 8/24/2008: Drinking really nicely now however, not at peak. Try again in 3 years. (1593 views) | |
| Tasted by pbjosh on 8/19/2008 & rated 92 points: Good stuff. Rich, dark nose with red and black fruit, coffee, tobacco, earth. Good structure, good balance, good length, good concentration, all around a very solid wine and a fantastic deal. (1670 views) | |
| Tasted by BordeauxNut on 8/16/2008 & rated 96 points: St. Louis Saturday Group -- 2000 v 2001 Bordeaux Tasting (Jim Dove's home): I've always liked this wine, but at the same time I've been puzzled by it's top-wine performance at the GJE 2001 tasting. So, I inserted it here and it came in (tied) second. Very ripe cassis and toasted coffee soar from the glass. One taster thought it a California ringer. I thought it showed very well. It's balanced with a really nice mouthfeel and a long finish. Proves its worth as a QPR champion here. Still solid on day 2. Rank: (t) 2/18 Vintage: 2000.44 (1810 views) | |
| Tasted by djs on 8/12/2008 & rated 91 points: (1391 views) | |
| Tasted by Ive Marx on 7/14/2008 & rated 89 points: A decent Medoc and that is about it. (1758 views) | |
| Tasted by Jozefs on 7/5/2008 & rated 90 points: (1524 views) | |
| Tasted by Anonymous on 5/10/2008 & rated 92 points: Classic Bordeaux nose, grip in the mouth, tannins starting to resolve. Great bottle. (1890 views) | |
| Tasted by Ivin on 4/1/2008: This was not nearly as open as it was a few years ago - I think it is just shut down. After a few hours it was softer and fruiter but it never really opened up. (2187 views) | |
| Tasted by Mr Cabernet on 3/1/2008 & rated 90 points: (1947 views) | |
| Tasted by Anonymous on 12/25/2007 & rated 92 points: (2103 views) | |
| Tasted by Nanda on 12/17/2007 & rated 91 points: Grand Jury Chicagoan - 2001 Cab Merlot (Restaurant Michael): A beautiful, fragrant and complex nose has loads tar, dark currant fruit, pencil shavings and distinct Bordeaux minerality. Palate is in a leaner style and very Bordeaux-like. Medium bodied and loses intensity across the mid-palate. Perhaps the tannic grip is clamping down the fruit here. Third in the flight with agreement that this was Bordeaux. One WOTF vote. 90 – 92 points (2796 views) | |
| Tasted by Ivin on 10/11/2007: Bright red, not very dark. Restrained nose, quite tannic and hard. A few years ago I thought this would be excellent but now I am not sure. Austere and angular. (2621 views) | |
| Tasted by Maestro on 8/31/2007 & rated 90 points: Dark ruby wine, with aromas of smoke, cassis, licorice, and fresh tobacco. Medium-body with firm tannins wrapped by generous fruit. Very nice texture, smooth and firm. Medium finish with overtones of olives and spices. Drink from 2007 until 2017. (2873 views) | |
| Tasted by cadamson on 8/3/2007 & rated 87 points: (2430 views) | |
| Tasted by Anonymous on 6/21/2007 & rated 90 points: (2565 views) | |
| Tasted by BordeauxNut on 12/18/2006 & rated 89 points: Initially rather oaky, even some sourness that reminds me of the scents one gets from wines aged in cheaper oak barrels. This seemed to go away after an hour or so. There's a faint note of alcohol and even volatility over the ripe and toasty dark plum fruit. Very round and plummy -- quite a mouthful, this possesses a nice beginning, middle and end. Quite modern in style -- not bad at all... (3921 views) | |
| Tasted by Jozefs on 12/2/2006 & rated 93 points: even better from magnum (3620 views) | |
| Tasted by VinAmante on 11/13/2006 & rated 89 points: (3121 views) | |
| Tasted by VinAmante on 10/21/2006 & rated 88 points: (3119 views) | |
| Only displaying the 25 most recent notes - click to see all notes for this wine... |
| CellarTracker Wiki Articles (login to edit | view all articles) |
| Chateau La Tour Carnet
The origins of La Tour Carnet lie in the Middle Ages, although the exact details are lost in the mists of time. Initially named Chateau de Saint-Laurent, some parts of the building, specifically the round tower, date from the 11th Century. The fortress was inhabited as early as the 12th Century, by the English, and it constituted a valuable military asset when Bordeaux was under English rule. The seigneurie of St-Laurent at this time was held by the Foix family, who were closely allied to the English king. Nevertheless, the land eventually fell to French rule once again, to which the then incumbent Comte Jean de Foix refused to submit, a decision that would eventually cost him his life. He was defeated by le beau Dunois, a compatriot of Jeanne d'Arc, and the impressive castle was partly destroyed. Following these events the ruined property passed through the hands of a succession of owners, before coming to Thibault de Carmaing in the 16th Century and eventually to Charles de Leutken, a man of Swedish origin, two hundred years after that. It remained with his descendents, and at the time of the 1855 classification was under the direction of Angélique Raymond, the wife of Jean-Jacques Leutken, who extolled a vineyard which covered 52 hectares.
In 1861 the estate was inherited by Angélique's son, Oscar de Leutken, who went on to be an influential local parliamentarian, and who also owned part of the Saint-Pierre vineyard. Despite the influence of its proprietor, however, the vines of La Tour Carnet were no less susceptible to phylloxera than any others in Bordeaux, and the estate subsequently went into decline, and like much of the Bordeaux vineyard it continued to deteriorate during the 20th Century. Indeed, another seven decades would pass before there was any sign of hope at La Tour Carnet. By this time the estate was in the ownership of Louis Lipschitz, a local shipping magnate, who did much to restore the chateau and associated buildings, as well as replanting the vineyards. He bequeathed La Tour Carnet to his daughter Marie-Claire Pèlegrin in 1978, and she continued his work, the once severely contracted vineyard expanding once again to a healthy 45 hectares of the Haut-Médoc appellation. There was also some innovation on the part of her husband, Guy Francois, who invented a rotary sorting table. In 1999, however, they came to sell the estate, although by this time much work had already been completed. It was acquired by its current owner Bernard Magrez, who at that time was already the proprietor of a number of other Bordeaux estates, most notably Pape Clément in Pessac-Léognan and Fombrauge in Saint Émilion.
The terroir around St-Laurent du Médoc includes a wide diversity of soils, but in the east of the commune, where La Tour Carnet is situated, Gunzian gravel prevails, as it does throughout many vineyards of the more famous communes of Pauillac, St Julien and others. The vineyards have a gentle slope with an aspect facing south-south-west, and beneath the gravel underfoot there are subsoils of clay and limestone. One part of the vineyard, however, to the west, is unusual in that the vines are planted on a limestone hillock, a geological curiosity known locally as the butte (hillock) or chapeau (hat) of La Tour Carnet. The vines are 50% Cabernet Sauvignon and 39% Merlot, the 11% balance being Cabernet Franc, and they are on average 24 years old. They are pruned to give yields typically between 40 and 45 hl/ha. They are trained high to improve ventilation in the canopy, and there may be some cautious leaf-stripping to improve ripening of the fruit. The grapes are picked by hand and transported to the chai in small crates to reduce the risk of damage, and then they are sorted twice over. The must is fermented in stainless steel, in vats ranging from 70 to 155 hectolitres, and is transported around the cellar by gravity feed alone. There is a saignée to improve ratio of solids to liquid, and then fermentation at a maximum temperature of 32ºC, which typically lasts eight or nine days, followed by a maceration for up to a month. The selection of wines is made, the best vats destined for the grand vin, La Tour Carnet, (15000 cases per annum is typical) and the lesser ones for the second wine, Douves de Carnet (9000 cases per annum). The grand vin will go into oak for up to eighteen months depending on the vintage, with half of the barrels replaced each year, and with a regular racking. The whole process is quite traditional and fairly standard, with an egg white fining and a light filtration at the finish.
Despite the obvious investment enjoyed by La Tour Carnet over recent years, it still remains largely undiscovered, although my limited experience suggests that the wines emanating from this particular Bordeaux chai offer good quality indeed. That means that they can also offer very good value. Here is an estate that Bordeaux drinkers, rather than label drinkers, should know about. (8/6/07)
About red wine The variety Red Bordeaux Blend on 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. Vins de France (Office National Interprofessionnel des Vins ) | Pages Vins, Directory of French Winegrowers | French Wine (Wikipedia) Vins Bordeaux (Conseil Interprofessionnel du Vin de Bordeaux) | Simple Bordeaux primer Vins du Médoc (Conseil des Vins du Médoc) 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. 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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