Chateau Marquis d'Alesme 2020
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Suckling
James -
Dunnuck
Jeb - Decanter
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Spectator
Wine
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Chewy and very tannic with a solid depth of dark fruit, showing blackberry and currant character. Full and powerful. Real structure here.
Barrel Sample: 94-95 -
Jeb Dunnuck
The 2020 Chateau Marquis D'Alesme Becker showed well, and this tiny Margaux estate continues to producer fabulous wines under the helm of Marjolaine de Coninck. Based on 63% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 5% Petit Verdot, and the rest Cabernet Franc, it has a juicy, medium-bodied, round, even sexy style that carries lots of cassis and assorted darker, blue fruits, notes of spicy wood, flowers, and violet, soft tannins, terrific balance, and great finish. Coming from a mix of gravelly, sandy soils and aged in 50% new French oak, this beauty hit 14% natural alcohol (no doubt helped by the large Merlot component) and is going to benefit from just a few years of bottle age. It's going to see its 20th birthday in fine form.
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Decanter
Juicy and upfront, this is deep and rich with a dominant aspect of liquorice, salty stones, dark chocolate and cola, giving this a bit of a savoury and heady aspect with the fruit in the background slightly. Excellent weight on the palate, I like the firm structure and the integrated tannins. Serious and confident, I love the energy and the texture, it’s just a great density in the mouth, not too thick but the concentration matched by the acidity, and the freshness is great. Juicy and balanced. Quite tannic overall, but lovely life and lift at the end. Well worked.
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Wine Spectator
Solidly built, with a singed sandalwood and alder frame holding a core of dark plum and warmed cassis together, while light charcoal, bay leaf and earth details emerge on the finish. A strong showing. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc.
Other Vintages
2022- Decanter
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Dunnuck
Jeb
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Dunnuck
Jeb - Decanter
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Dunnuck
Jeb -
Suckling
James - Decanter
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Parker
Robert
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Dunnuck
Jeb -
Parker
Robert -
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James -
Spectator
Wine - Decanter
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Parker
Robert -
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Jeb -
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James - Decanter
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Spectator
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Spectator
Wine
Ultimately, Marquis d’Alesme has always been driven by the idea that a great wine is an inspired work of art. Each vintage is a result of the purest vine-growing tradition, yet Bordeaux has never seemed so exotic.
This wine is full of character and brings the Orient and the West together. Dragon scales and moon gates stand alongside columns and arcades in perfect harmony. A sea of vines stretches out towards the Rising Sun on the horizon.
Marquis d’Alesme offers a highly unusual winetasting experience, where the pleasure of the senses vies with aesthetic enjoyment. A dreamlike utopia begins to emerge.
A Grand Cru becomes an experience… LA FOLIE D’ALESME.
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.
Silky, seductive and polished are the words that characterize the best wines from Margaux, the most inland appellation of the Médoc on the Left Bank of Bordeaux.
Margaux’s gravel soils are the thinnest of the Médoc, making them most penetrable by vine roots—some reaching down over 23 feet for water. The best sites are said to be on gentle outcrops, or croupes, where more gravel facilitates good drainage.
The Left Bank of Bordeaux subscribes to an arguably outdated method of classification but it is nonetheless important in regards to history of the area. In 1855 the finest chateaux were deemed on the basis of reputation and trading price—at that time. In 1855, Chateau Margaux achieved first growth status, yet it has been Chateau Palmer (officially third growth from the 1855 classification) that has consistently outperformed others throughout the 20th century.
Chateau Margaux in top vintages is capable of producing red Cabernet Sauvignon based wines described as pure, intense, spell-binding, refined and profound with flavors and aromas of black currant, violets, roses, orange peel, black tea and incense.
Other top producers worthy of noting include Chateau Rauzan-Ségla, Lascombes, Brane-Cantenac, and d’Issan, among others.
The best wines of Margaux combine a deep ruby color with a polished structure, concentration and an unrivaled elegance.