Wine Advisor
La Conseillante 2013
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Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
The Conseillante is a blend of 82% Merlot and 18% Cabernet Franc picked between 25 September and finishing with the latter on 7 October, cropped at 30hl/ha. The wine is being raised in 65% new barrels. There is something "tranquil" about the aromatics of the La Conseillante. Fresh strawberry and violet scents gently waft from the glass: nothing powerful but very pure, the oak seeming to be nicely integrated. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannins. This is quite a taut and linear La Conseillante with fresh acidity, more masculine than recent vintages and perhaps edging towards a more classic style. It gently builds in the mouth and leaves just a hint of iodine on the finish. This is a fine, precise La Conseillante for mid-term drinking. Tasted April 2014.
Reviewed by: Robert M. Parker, Jr.
The grand vin, the 2013 La Conseillante, is a delicious, supple wine displaying notes of violets, incense, licorice, black cherries and raspberries. Well-made and medium-bodied, but neither as deep nor concentrated as the 2009 and 2010, its soft, seductive style argue well for drinking over the next decade.
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
The 2013 La Conseillante definitely has one of the better Pomerol aromatic profiles with light, clean and fresh black cherry and cranberry scents, a touch of potpourri developing behind. The palate is medium-bodied with bitter cherry and cranberry notes, the oak jutting out a little at present and drying the finish. Austere for the normally more succulent and fleshier La Conseillante, hopefully it will coalesce with 3 or 4 years in bottle.
Reviewed by: Antonio Galloni
A generous, resonant wine, the 2013 La Conseillante is impressive. Dark red cherry, plum, spice and menthol notes flesh out in a rich, inviting wine for the year. A long, persistent finish rounds things out in style. This is about as polished and finessed as things get in 2013. The only thing missing is the structure of a more important vintage. By any measure, the 2013 Conseillante is a tremendous achievement. The blend is 82% Merlot and 18% Cabernet Franc. The Merlot was picked between September 27 and October 5, while the Cabernet Franc was picked from October 5 to 7. Tasted twice.
Reviewed by: Ian d'Agata
(82% merlot and 18% cabernet franc): Bright ruby. Knockout aromas of dark cherry, raspberry and violet, complicated by graphite and coffee. Clean, fresh and very pure, offering dark berry and flinty flavors of above-average precision. Finishes with suave, rising tannins. The house signature of refinement and purity of fruit enables me to recognize this wine blind almost every time in a battery of Pomerol wines. A lighter-style La Conseillante, it's nonetheless one of my favorites of the vintage.
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
The 2013 La Conseillante has a straightforward bouquet with no signs of greenness, just light tertiary black fruit that could benefit from more vigor. The palate is medium-bodied with light tannin, well judged acidity and a modest grip in the mouth. It is simple for this estate, perhaps lacking some fruité towards the finish although it is graced with a pleasant tobacco-tinged finish. Drink over the next seven or eight years. Tasted at La Conseillante vertical at the property.
Reviewed by: James Suckling
This is lively and refined with a blueberry and cherry character. Medium body with fine tannins and a tangy finish. Bright and lively. Salty. Savory. 87% merlot and 13% cabernet franc.
Reviewed by: James Suckling
Bright and vivid with green olive, berry and plum character. Hints of wet earth. Full body, yet tight and reserved. Ultra-fine tannins. Excellent wine for the vintage. Better in 2019.
About the Producer
Chateau La Conseillante is located in the Pomerol appellation on the right bank of Bordeaux, France, next to Vieux Chateau Certan and Chateau L'Evangile, and is one of the best châteaux in Pomerol. The vineyard covers an area of 11.8 hectares with a topsoil of 60% grey clay and 40% gravel and a subsoil of red clay rich in iron. The vineyard is planted with 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Franc. The Merlot is planted mainly on clay plots, while the Cabernet Franc is planted mainly on gravel. The average age of the vines is 35 years and the planting density is 7,000 vines per hectare. The winery uses traditional vineyard management practices, eliminating the use of herbicides. During the growing season, the land is usually plowed four times to suppress weed growth and thus obtain more water for the vines. In the winter, the vines are pruned in a strict Simple Guyot and Double Guyot style. In addition, the vineyards are de-leafed and de-budded to keep yields at around 4,000 liters per hectare. At harvest time, the grapes are hand-picked to their optimum ripeness and a preliminary selection is carried out. Once the selection is complete, the grapes are transported in small batches to the winery to prevent crushing of the fruit. The winery is located in the heart of the vineyard, which shortens the transportation time and ensures that the grapes are fresh and ready for fermentation. In 2012, the winery added a new fermentation room with enough temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks to ferment the grapes from each of the 18 plots separately, combining traditional winemaking techniques with modern technology. In addition, the winery now has four sorting tables and a de-stemmer. After being transferred to barrels, the grapes undergo a cold maceration of 48 to 96 hours. After maceration, the must is fermented in barrels with the skins for 1 week, followed by a further 1 to 2 weeks of maceration. At the end of fermentation, some of the artesian wine is released first and the remaining lees are pressed through a vertical press. The pressed wines are aged separately, and only some of the best pressed wines are blended with the artesian wines. Before bottling, the wines are matured in oak barrels for approximately 18 months, 50% to 80% of which are new. During maturation, the wines are decanted by the winemakers every three months and finally clarified with egg whites.
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Package Size
12 x 75cl
