Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar
byIan D'Agatathe6/30/2013
(44% merlot, 38% cabernet franc and 18% cabernet sauvignon; 14% alcohol; 53% selection for the grand vin): Saturated ruby with purple highlights. Dark plum, blackberry, ink and minerals on the knockout nose. Silky and deep for 2012, but with no shortage of underlying structure. Quite full and complex, with sneaky concentration and building sweetness to the mineral, dark berry and floral flavors. Finishes with superb persistence, very fine tannins and a delicate herbal nuance. This is impressively silky for the year, and one of the best Les Carmes in memory, although I would have preferred just a little less alcohol. Les Carmes was purchased in December 2010 by Patrice Pichet, one of France's leading real estate developers, based in Bordeaux. At the time, the purchase price of 3.8 million Euros per hectare (18 million for the total property) set a new record for vineyard land in Bordeaux. Pichet is surrounded by talent: the régisseur is Guillaume Pouthier, recruited from Chapoutier, while Stéphane Derenoncourt and Simon Blanchard consult. Incidentally, the estate's second wine, Le Clos des Carmes, from younger vines on argilo-calcaire soils (as opposed to the graves of Les Carmes Haut-Brion), is also sweet and successful in 2012, and is one of the few second wines from this vintage that really deserves consumer attention.