| Region | |
|---|---|
| Subregion | France > Bordeaux > Left Bank > Margaux |
| Colour | Red |
| Type | Still |
This 55 hectare Margaux property is planted with 70% Cabernet Sauvignon and 30% Merlot and the wine is aged in 50% new oak. The Cruse family have brought in new investment recently from M Lorenzetti who has also purchased Pedesclaux in Pauillac. Recent vintages have performed very well in blind tastings at Southwold.
The 2017 d'Issan is pliant, supple and nuanced. This is an especially rich, voluptuous style, with a real feeling of lushness from the Merlot. Dark plum, tobacco, leather, cedar, licorice and spice build into a creamy, racy finish wrapped with silky tannins. Creamy and textured, with impeccable balance, the 2017 Issan is a winner from Emmanuel Cruse and his team. 2025 - 2037.
The 2017 d’Issan was bottled in May 2019. The wine has a pretty, floral bouquet, transparent and open, with blackberry leaf mixed with cranberry and hints of lavender. The palate is medium-bodied with fine-grain tannins, crunchy black fruit and a structured, almost Pauillac-like finish that might suggest a higher proportion of Cabernet Sauvignon than there actually is. Good tension and persistence here, though maybe it needs a little more grip on the finish. Very fine, medium-term drinking. Tasted twice with consistent notes. 2022 - 2040.
This sneaks up on you with a pretty density of ripe fruit such as plums and strawberries. Full body, layered and ripe tannins set this young wine up for a tannic and fruity finish.
A blend of 65% Cabernet Sauvignon and 35% Merlot, the 2017 d’Issan is medium to deep garnet-purple in color. It is a little closed to begin, offering subtle notes of red berry preserves, black raspberries, and mulberries, with hints of wild thyme and lavender. Medium-bodied, the palate is elegant, tightly knit, and fine-grained, with a refreshing line and a perfumed finish.
This is rather lovely this year. It has a real depth to the fruit, with a brush of caramel through it and a highly appealing cigar box twist on the finish. It doesn't quite have the voluptuous ripeness of 2015 and 2016, but there's plenty of Margaux elegance, precision and touches of florality. They weren't badly affected by frost here, so they had a healthy yield of 43hl/ha. A complete wine with beginning, middle and end. 50% new oak.
Drinking Window 2024 - 2040
Deep cherry red. Sweet, lifted red-cherry fruit on the nose. Very inviting. Cherries on the palate, too. Not particularly concentrated but scented with red fruit and the tannins are appropriately light to match the depth of fruit. Fresh and persistent. Silky finish. Not for the very long term, perhaps.
Drink 2023-2032
Cool and minty on the nose, there is a hint of clove and some black cherry here. The palate is bright and midweight with some sweet and smoky wood bolstering the fresh cherry and plums on the mid palate. Fresh, clean and vibrant, this is compact and elegant through to the finish.
The fruit on the nose is sweet the palate has a mix rich fruit underpinned by freshness. The tannins are firm but fine the fruit at the back sweet breadth of flavour the finish has a balance of freshness and sweetness. Drink 2025 - 2038.
A very fruit-driven and succulent wine augmented with some nice vanillin oak, this is a decent effort from Issan and while the finish is a little dry, this is a balanced wine for short-term drinking.
The 2017 d’Issan was picked from 18 September to 3 October, the earliest since 2003. It was cropped at 43hl/ha and matured in 50% new oak. It has an elegant and understated bouquet with blackberry, black truffle and pencil lead aromas, quite Pauillac in style compared to previous vintages. The palate is medium-bodied with fine definition, quite saline in the mouth with black fruit, tar and minerals towards the lightly spiced finish that lingers in the mouth. It will benefit from several years in bottle but this continues a purple patch for this historic Margaux. Drink 2021 - 2040.
The 2017 D'Issan (a blend of 65% Cabernet Sauvignon and 35% Merlot) is medium to deep garnet-purple in color with a nose of baked plums, warm cassis and stewed cherries plus earth, balsamic, Sichuan pepper and herbs hints. The palate is medium-bodied and plush with soft acidity and bags of juicy fruit leading to a gratifyingly spicy finish. Drink 2020-2035.
The deep garnet-purple colored 2017 D'Issan (a tentative blend of 65% Cabernet Sauvignon and 35% Merlot) opens with crushed blueberries and black plums notes with hints of cassis, licorice and violets. Medium-bodied with a firm and finely grained frame, it has oodles of freshness lifting the ripe black and blue fruits to a long, perfumed finish.
