| Region | |
|---|---|
| Subregion | France > Bordeaux > Right Bank > Côtes de Bourg |
| Colour | Red |
| Type | Still |
Often close in quality to the same owner's top Saint Emilion, Le Tertre Roteboeuf. This Cotes de Bourg is head and shoulders the best wine of the appellation and very much a wine for those "in the know". A right bank wine, yet only 4 or 5 kilometres from Chateau Margaux as the crow flies. This vineyard is a south facing slope with well ventilated vines. The Cabernet Sauvignon vines here are over 50 years old.
Tasted blind. Deep ruby garnet. Has to be Roc de Cambes – highly distinctive barrel notes. Ripe, brambly fruit and rich damson notes. Ripe, rich and full. Sweet and seductive, full of clove and nutmeg. Powerful, with a range of bass notes and a very toasty finish for now. This is a wine for people who know and like the style – like me!
Drink 2024 – 2036
At Roc de Cambes in 2017 there was no frost due to the slopes in the vineyards. The color is medium to deep garnet-purple and it is a little closed and broody at first, soon awakening to reveal notes of redcurrant jelly, chocolate-covered cherries, and cedar chest, leading to hints of stewed Ceylon tea, underbrush, and dusty soil. The medium to full-bodied palate offers loads of red and black fruit layers with a racy line of freshness and soft, satiny tannins, finishing on a lingering peppery note.
Glowing dark crimson. A charry oak aroma is particularly noticeable in this vintage, at this moment in time, on L'Aurage and Tertre Roteboeuf from the same Mitjavile stable. Underneath the oak is dark fruit and silky tannins. Mouth-watering and fresh and I might have marked this down because of that seemingly heavy oak had I not seen how older vintages of this and Tertre Roteboeuf have aged. Drink 2023-2033.
The nose has a generous mix of black fruits the start of the palate is soft the tannins feel ripe silky and smooth. At the back fresh black fruits are underpinned by black truffles the finish has a hint of spicy oak. 2024-33
The fruit is more intense than in Domaine de Cambes and it is more serious, more structured, more reticent and more regal. There is a dramatic edge to this wine which bring tannic tension and this warns the drinker away. While you can get on and drink the ‘wine from over the road’ this is a more tense creation and it will need 5 years or more. Having said this I like both wines equally which shows just how different in character they are.
Deep garnet-purple colored, the 2017 Rouget has a pronounced nose of stewed plums, sautéed herbs, baked black cherries and mulberries with wafts of fallen leaves and unsmoked cigars. Medium to full-bodied, the palate delivers loads of savory-laced black fruit preserves, with a chewy texture and earthy finish.
The 2017 Roc de Cambes is deep garnet-purple in color with a slightly reticent nose of blackberries, cassis and tar with nuances of pencil shavings, damp soil and dried herbs. The palate is medium-bodied, firm and grainy with great freshness and a long, lively finish.
