2018 | Château Fleur Cardinale | Saint-Emilion Grand Cru

Blackcurrant, clove, walnut-husk, tobacco and pine-cone aromas. Dried flowers and mocha, too. It’s medium-to full-bodied with firm, tight-grained tannins. Polished layers of dark fruit and wood notes with a long, chewy finish.

Producer Information

Château Fleur Cardinale is a Saint-Émilion Grand Cru Classé that has been owned by Florence and Dominique Decoster since 2001. The property was promoted to the rank of Grand Cru Classé in 2006, retaining it in 2012. The vineyards extend for 23.5hectares (58 acres) across Saint-Émilion and are planted on soils of clay and limestone. Merlot dominates here and is planted alongside smaller plots of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc. The estate has the Engagé RSE certification for social responsibility. It has also been implementing the Bordeaux Wines Environmental Management System (based on ISO 14001) since 2013. This addresses energy and water consumption, waste sorting and effluent, recycling, cultivation, pest management and employee health and safety. No chemical weedkillers or insecticides are used. Vines are instead tilled mechanically, and cover crops are used to reduce erosion and avoid soil compaction. No inorganic fertilizers have been used since 2017. Disease controls include talc-based sprays to combat botrytis in wet years. The wines come from vines that are, on average, 40 years old. The grapes are hand-harvested and then manually sorted in the winery, plot by plot, and variety by variety, before being destemmed into fermenters. The winery has 22 temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks that the grapes are placed into to begin alcoholic fermentation. Wines are then aged for between 12 and 15 months in new French oak barrels. The family also produces wine under the Château Croix Cardinale label. Rather than a second wine, this is a separate, neighboring vineyard. It is planted mostly to Merlot, alongside some Cabernet Franc. Secret de Cardinale and Bois Cardinale were formerly part of the portfolio, but are now discontinued. A new second wine was to be announced in 2020. The château is named for two racehorses, Fleur and Cardinale. They ran in the colors of the Obissier family who bought the property (previously Clos Bel-Air) in 1975.

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