Tour Saint Christophe 2019
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James
Suckling - Vinous
- Decanter
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Jeb
Dunnuck -
Robert
Parker
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
The Barrel Sample for this wine is above 14% ABV.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Beautiful, intense fruit, dark-earth and chocolate character on the nose. Full-bodied with great density and plush, fine tannins that give a fine-velvet texture. It’s extremely long, polished and sophisticated. Needs time to come together, but expressive and glorious. Fantastic relative value. 80% merlot and 20% cabernet franc.
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Vinous
The 2019 Tour Saint Christophe builds on the promise it showed from barrel. This sample was actually tasted at my home, where I afforded it a two hour decant. It revealed precocious yet controlled blackberry and blueberry fruit scents, with that violet component still intact. The tannins have not lost any of their grippiness or assertiveness. This is a Saint-Emilion that is in for the long haul. Great potential.
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Decanter
Still available in the UK for an absurdly low price for the quality, this gorgeous wine combines the cooler blue fruit appeal of the 2016 (not quite as sensual today as the 2015), with better density. The palate is more subtle in its opulence than the 2015 and with a fresher finish. A grand example of this underrated terroir, which I had visited back in 2021. Give it a few more years to soften the tannins.
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Jeb Dunnuck
This estate has been delivering the goods for numerous vintages now, and the 2019 Château Tour Saint Christophe is another terrific wine. Ripe black cherries, black raspberries, graphite, new leather, and chalky minerality all define the nose, and it's medium to full-bodied, has a tight, straight, focused texture, ripe yet present tannins, and outstanding length. It doesn't have the mid-palate density or opulence of the 2018, but it’s more pretty, focused, and straight on the palate. Give bottles 4-5 years and enjoy over the following two decades. Best After 2026
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
From clay-rich soils opposite Troplong Mondot in the commune Saint Christophe des Bardes, the 2019 Tour Saint Christophe offers up demonstrative aromas of cherries, wild berries, sweet loamy soil, licorice and dark chocolate. Full-bodied, rich and fleshy, with an enveloping core of fruit, lively acids and ripe, powdery tannins, it's a strong effort in a crowd-pleasing style. Best after 2021.
Other Vintages
2022-
James
Suckling -
Jeb
Dunnuck - Decanter
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Robert
Parker
- Vinous
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Jeb
Dunnuck -
James
Suckling -
Robert
Parker - Decanter
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James
Suckling -
Jeb
Dunnuck -
Robert
Parker - Decanter
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James
Suckling -
Jeb
Dunnuck -
Robert
Parker - Decanter
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Jeb
Dunnuck -
James
Suckling -
Robert
Parker
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James
Suckling -
Robert
Parker -
Jeb
Dunnuck -
Wine
Spectator
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James
Suckling -
Jeb
Dunnuck -
Wine
Enthusiast -
Robert
Parker
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James
Suckling -
Robert
Parker
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James
Suckling -
Robert
Parker
The Chateau overlooks beautiful dry stone terraces several hundred years old on a chalky-clay terroir. The vineyard is planted on this plateau where it has optimal sunlight and perfect natural drainage. The average age of the vines are thirty years old, they flourish and reach perfection in a limestone clay soil enhanced with sedimentary fragments of flint and chalk. It's this secret alchemy which makes the quality of our 'terroir'.
Aware of the richness of the legacy of the past and to preserve it, they undertook to restore Chateau Tour Saint Christophe. The objective was to revive the vineyard terraces with the disassembling and the reconstruction of this dry stone equipment as it had been built in the 18th century. About 1.5 km of dry-stone terraces have been renovated by re-shaping each stone by hand. A titanic work to preserve the original appearance of these unique terraces in Saint-Emilion.
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.
Marked by its historic fortified village—perhaps the prettiest in all of Bordeaux, the St-Émilion appellation, along with its neighboring village of Pomerol, are leaders in quality on the Right Bank of Bordeaux. These Merlot-dominant red wines (complemented by various amounts of Cabernet Franc and/or Cabernet Sauvignon) remain some of the most admired and collected wines of the world.
St-Émilion has the longest history in wine production in Bordeaux—longer than the Left Bank—dating back to an 8th century monk named Saint Émilion who became a hermit in one of the many limestone caves scattered throughout the area.
Today St-Émilion is made up of hundreds of independent farmers dedicated to the same thing: growing Merlot and Cabernet Franc (and tiny amounts of Cabernet Sauvignon). While always roughly the same blend, the wines of St-Émilion vary considerably depending on the soil upon which they are grown—and the soils do vary considerably throughout the region.
The chateaux with the highest classification (Premier Grand Cru Classés) are on gravel-rich soils or steep, clay-limestone hillsides. There are only four given the highest rank, called Premier Grand Cru Classés A (Chateau Cheval Blanc, Ausone, Angélus, Pavie) and 14 are Premier Grand Cru Classés B. Much of the rest of the vineyards in the appellation are on flatter land where the soils are a mix of gravel, sand and alluvial matter.
Great wines from St-Émilion will be deep in color, and might have characteristics of blackberry liqueur, black raspberry, licorice, chocolate, grilled meat, earth or truffles. They will be bold, layered and lush.