Château Cantemerle: Tasting & Drinking
An estate I suspect more popular with those who drink the wine rather than drink the label, Château Cantemerle can be found in the hinterland that lies between the five communes of the Margaux appellation, to the north, and the city suburbs to the south. While châteaux in this particularly corner of Bordeaux have no access to a grand appellation like that bestowed upon their cousins to the north, this being Haut-Médoc territory, there is still plenty of drinking potential. This applies not only to the two classed growths found here, of which Château Cantemerle is one and Château La Lagune the other, but also to a number of cru bourgeois properties, led by the likes of Château Cambon-la-Pelouse and Château Belle-Vue.
The wines, in my experience, offer very good value, and I feel they have maintained (and perhaps improved slightly) the quality offered in recent good vintages, with strong performances in 2005, 2009 and 2010, to match or perhaps outclass the quality of those wines produced in 1996, 2000 and 2005.
The following tasting notes include a number of vintages of Château Cantemerle; my predilection for the 1996 vintage reflects the purchase of a case many years ago; I have enjoyed watching the early development of this wine over the past few years. It has been instructive not only with regard to Château Cantemerle and its wines, but to understanding how a wine ages over time, how it may close down and open up. Admittedly, this seems less of a concern with modern Bordeaux than the wines being made here only twenty years ago, but I learnt something just the same.
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