Description
Chateau Les Cruzelles in Lalande de Pomerol is owned by Denis Durantou. Denis Durantou who purchased Chateau Les Cruzelles in 2000, is better known for owning one of the top estates in Pomerol, Chateau LEglise Clinet. Located in the commune of Neac, not far from his Pomerol estate, the terroir of Chateau Les Cruzelles shares many similarities in terroir with his Pomerol chateau, due to its rich, clay and gravel soil. However, the soils for Les Cruzelles have more gravel with less clay than you will encounter at Chateau L’Eglise Clinet. The Lalande de Pomerol vineyards are only about 1 kilometer from Chateau L’Eglise Clinet. In fact, you can actually see the vineyard of Les Cruzelles from Chateau L’Eglise Clinet, if Denis shows you where to look.
Chateau La Chenade is the second wine of Chateau Les Cruzelles. The grapes for La Chenade comes from a combination of the estate’s young vines and the vines planted in the terroir with more sand and gravel, as well as from purchased fruit. La Chenade also includes more Cabernet Franc in the blend to give it more structure. La Chenade is aged in an average of 25% new, French oak barrels. On average, the production of Chateau Les Cruzelles is close to 1,200 cases of wine per vintage.Chateau La Chenade is better with at least 2-4 years of aging in good vintages. Young vintages can be decanted for about 1 hour if desired.
Tasting Note
The 2014 Charmail has a ripe, quite opulent (for the vintage) bouquet with raspberry, crushed strawberry and melted tar scents. There is great precision here. The palate is medium-bodied with plush, supple tannin, cloaked in blackberry and raspberry fruit, brown spices and a pleasant chewiness towards the finish. Maybe a little rustic compared to its peers, but I think this will age extremely well. Tasted February 2017. [90/100, Neal Martin – March 2017, robertparker.com]
