Chateau Charmail 2007, Haut Medoc
Salient features of Chateau Charmail 2007 are as follows:
Aromatic and scented (fresh herbs and dry flowers, with the 20% cabernet franc evident).
Primary fruit is cassis (from 30% cabernet Sauvignon) and a suggestion of licorice, leather, coffee, green/black peppercorn (from 3% Petit Verdot,, wood and integration of components) on the complex nose by Haut Medoc CB standard.
Suave and silky in the mouth; deep colour, classy fruit, fine stylish tannins(green harvest, pre fermentation, cold maceration, fruit in the tanks is dropped to as low as 5° Celsius and held in the vats for as long as two weeks).
Nicely balanced structure with density (only 13% abv from the 47% well-tempered Merlot; non filtered non fined; 1-year in woood 1/3 new; 4-year bottle ageing before release!).
The strengths of Chateau Charmail 2007 are:
Simple fresh easy to drink(medium bodied; good fruit).
Pleasurable undemanding; stylish, dense and ripe.
The 22.5 hectare vineyard gives good economy of scale for, and so the price is very competitive.
Chateau Charmail 2007, a CBS not ordinary Haut Medoc AC, is probably at its peak now.
Our views:
As veterans in CBs, we are still convinced that Chateau Charmail is one of the best CBS from Haut Medoc(despite the new wavers in Haut Medoc during the 1990s, because its classy fruit always stands Chateau Charmail out from some minerality-driven and too woody Haut Medocs. The vintage 2007 is a good year, to the skilled winemakers of Chateau Charmail.
