Château de Camensac: Tasting & Drinking
In order to consider the position of Château de Camensac within Bordeaux today, it is perhaps worth looking back to the words penned by the vinously-minded poet Pierre Biarnez (1798 – 1874) with regard to this estate.
Ainsi de Camensac s’agrandit la lumière
Et le château moderne, au lieu de la chaumière
Et d’un vaste cellier l’obscure cavité
Vont consacrer son rang avec sa qualité
Camensac d’un cinquième a déja tout de lustre,
Et doit peut-être encor devenir plus illustre
Pierre Biarnez always managed to put a positive spin on any château of which he wrote, concluding here that Château de Camensac, an estate already displaying a handsome “lustre”, was set to become even more famous with time. Biarnez was not alone in this belief though; during the last two centuries my research has revealed that a number of other wine-minded authors have suggested the estate was sure to rise to new heights.
My experiences with the wines of Château de Camensac over the past couple of decades, while not as extensive as with many other Haut-Médoc châteaux, suggest that this renaissance is still ongoing. A mini-vertical in 2003 taking in the 1990 (sadly corked), 1994, 1996 and 1998 vintages suggested that the estate had promise, particularly looking at the 1996. More recently, the 2005 has demonstrated some potential, the 2006 and 2003 less so, although being fair the 2010, when I first tasted it in 2012, was the best wine I had encountered from this estate for a long time.
Subsequent to this I did not find myself moved by the wines here, at least not until I taste the 2022 barrel sample. A sequence of rather ordinary vintages followed, with run of the mill results in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015, and it was only in 2016 that there was sign of change, with a more interesting and certainly serviceable wine. There was no 2017 grand vin, the result of that year’s frost, the small crop (just 10 hl/ha) bottled under the second label. The 2018, 2019 and 2020 vintages continued this theme, but I saw greater potential in the 2022 vintage, which was confirmed by retasting this after bottling. The 2023 showed similar charm, and there looks to be potential in 2025, to be confirmed by tasting after bottling. (28/5/03, updated 13/6/07, 9/12/15, 14/7/24, 6/8/26)
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