Chateau Lestage 2016
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James
Suckling -
Wine
Enthusiast -
Robert
Parker
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Château Lestage shows a deep purple color. It has an attractive, clean and pure bouquet with lifted strawberry and raspberry scents infused with a touch of vanilla from new oak. On the palate, the wine offers a lot of ripe red fruit and black current flavors. It shows good structure with silky tannins, for some good aging. The finish is long and harmonious.
Blend: 62% Merlot, 37% Cabernet Sauvignon & 1% Petit Verdot
Perfect with grilled red meat, cheese or with chocolate cake.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A beautiful young wine with vivid, blackcurrant and dark-berry character and hints of hazelnuts. Medium body with a lovely core of ripe fruit, yet it remains vivid and bright. A blend of 62 per cent merlot, 37 per cent cabernet sauvignon and one per cent petit verdot. Try from 2021.
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Wine Enthusiast
From one of several properties owned by the Chanfreau family in Listrac, this wine is firm, structured and has a core of dry, dark tannins. Its black fruits are also right there, waiting to burst through as the tannins soften. It will be a rich, perfumed wine with a good future. Drink from 2024.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Chanfreau family's 2016 Lestage is showing very well, unwinding in the glass with notes of dark berries, licorice, sweet soil tones and spices. Dominated by some 70% Merlot growing on clay-limestone soils, it's medium to full-bodied, fleshy and layered, with lively acids and rich, powdery tannins cloaked in a deep core of fruit. Rating: 91+
Other Vintages
2015-
Wine
Enthusiast
Château Lestage’s vineyard dates back to Gallo-Roman times but it was only in the 19th century that the present manor, a splendid example of Napoleon III architecture, was built. Classified Cru Bourgeois Supérieur in 1932, this
classification has been confirmed in 2003. The estate is 100 acres on a single block, made of Gravelly Pyrenean soil on a limestone and clayey-limestone base.
The Chanfreau Family settled in Listrac-Médoc in 1962 when Léo purchased Château Fonréaud following his return from Algeria. A few months later, his father, Marcel Chanfreau, who also wished to settle in the Médoc, bought Château Lestage (neighboring Fonréaud) and Château Caroline. Today, Marcel's grandson, Jean Chanfreau, runs the estates with his wife Marie-Hélène and his sister Caroline Chanfreau-Philippon. He bought Clos des Demoiselles in 2002. The family-owned vineyard covers 100+ acres in the commune of Listrac-Médoc and 25 acres in the commune of Moulis en Médoc. The vines grow at the highest point in the Médoc, the Puy de Menjon, at an altitude of 140 feet.
One of the world’s most classic and popular styles of red wine, Bordeaux-inspired blends have spread from their homeland in France to nearly every corner of the New World. Typically based on either Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot and supported by Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot, the best of these are densely hued, fragrant, full of fruit and boast a structure that begs for cellar time. Somm Secret—Blends from Bordeaux are generally earthier compared to those from the New World, which tend to be fruit-dominant.
One of the six appellations of the Haut-Medoc, Listrac has a gentle rise away from the Gironde River and contains some of the highest elevations of the Left Bank. While Cabernet Sauvignon dominates, its clay limestone soils are increasingly planted to Merlot.