2012 Rupert & Rothschild Classique

Community Tasting Notes (13) Avg Score: 88.7 points

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  4/8/2020 - Immigrator wrote: 89 Points

  Needed about an hour, but drank well thereafter. Not bad at $16.

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  2/10/2019 - mjwstickings Likes this wine: 90 Points

  With the names Rupert and Rothschild on the label -- and particularly the latter -- you expect high-quality wine, especially since it's a Cab-Merlot blend (60-40) from, again, the latter, one of the biggest names in Bordeaux. Or maybe you expect a gimmick wine, given the names, but this is certainly not that, because it really is an excellent South African Bordeaux blend that mixes genuine Old World appeal with New World sensibilities. The aromatics are especially great, with raspberry, blackberry, cherry, earth, and mild black pepper leading the way, not terribly complex but the essence of Bordeaux. As is generally the case with Bordeaux in this price range ($23 in Ontario, near the upper end of the range of petit-château / entry-level Bordeaux), the palate falls short of the nose, the fruit thinning out, but what does come out is nice complementary savouriness in the form of cured meat (bacon), mushroom, butter herbs, more earthiness, and salty minerality. Put all this together -- with an elegant use of oak (18 months in French barrels) and a solid but, at this point, accessible structure -- and you have a Bordeaux-style wine that's as good as the "real" stuff at twice the price, a wine that escapes the shadows of Bordeaux to be a very fine wine in its own right.

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  5/13/2018 - hitechnomad Likes this wine: 91 Points

  Polished, fruit forward Bordeaux-style. Excellent value.

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  2/18/2018 - Tpairing wrote: 89 Points

  Distinctive S.A. regional flavours for a Bordeaux style wine. More spices and sweeter end to a flavoursome wine.

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  12/14/2017 - hitechnomad Likes this wine: 92 Points

  Excellent value from a beautiful winery. The base of a very fine range of wines, this holds its own.
  Really reminiscent of good, modern Bordeaux at a 1/3 of the price. Good for 3 more years I’d guess.

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