Chateau Senilhac 2007 and 2008, Haut Medoc CB
Great to sample again Chateau Senilhac on a calm Sunday.
Keeping with the tradition of Bordeaux's left bank, this wine is primarily Cabernet Sauvignon. This wine has an intense ruby red colour and resembles a more traditional Bordeaux style with strong tannin structure that will enable good aging. The nose displays black currants and mint. Good fruit balance on the palate along with herb and spice character. Powerful by Haut Medoc standard, it's a young wine so it will benefit from decanting first. A great steak wine! Blend: 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Franc.
Today's experience with Chateau Senilhac 2008 convinces that this vintage needs some decanting. Watch out for loss of fruit. Plumy and bubble-gum to start with, followed by quite strong tertiary tones like salami, sou bois, grass- not too much inspiring until one hour when the ripeness, minty tones surface with edging tannins. Definitely not a love-at-first-sight wine, albeit with excellent value for the claret palated. Food wine. DD85.
Chateau Senilhac 2007 gives pungent but short-lived blackcurrant fruit, followed green and peppery notes. Not too pleasurable one would wish. Palate is minerality driven, structured and gives a meaty finish on aeration. Quite some faults one would say; quite some complexities some would say on the other. Somehow an easy wine to start with, with Intense in tannins after one hour of tasting. Food wine. DD82.
