Deep plum in colour, concentrated fruit as with so many this vintage. An excellently consistent St-Emilion that is now in the skilled winemaking hands of Charlotte Krajewski. This puts the emphasis clearly on coffee grounds, lightly grilled oak and bitter chocolate that is well balanced by intense cassis and blueberry fruits. Compact tannins, a little more austere than you will find in this winemaker's Pomerol Château Seraphine. This is concentrated, with a stretched out lingering finish. 40% new oak. Could go up in score during the in-bottle tasting. Drinking Window: 2025 - 2038
Tasted by: Jane Anson (at Primeur week tastings in Bordeaux, 01 May 2021)

The 2020 Clos Cantenac is made from 100% Merlot. It has 14.5% alcohol and is aging in barriques, 40% new, for 12 months. Deep garnet-purple colored, it opens with compelling notes of plum preserves, boysenberries and blueberry compote, plus wafts of underbrush, red roses and Sichuan pepper. The medium to full-bodied palate is laden with juicy black fruits, supported by soft tannins and just enough freshness, finishing with a peppery lift. 8,000 bottles are due to be made. LPB

The 2020 Clos Cantenac offers tightly wound black cherries and blueberry that unfurl nicely with aeration, a very subtle camphor aroma emerging with time. The palate is medium-bodied with sappy black fruit, touches of graphite and tea leaf toward a clean, precise finish that is quite traditional and structured in style. It needs a little more tension in the final third but otherwise, good potential.

vinous.com

100% Merlot. One-day cold soak. Part fermented in oak (Intégrale barrels). Aged in 40% new oak.
Black with purple rim. Intense, spiced, rich black fruits, cassis as well as the more typically sweeter plum of Merlot. A hint of torrefaction, presumably from the oak. Dry, dark and savoury on the palate, and even with this level of alcohol there’s a lovely dark, savoury restraint to do with lack of fruit sweetness – but not lack of fruit. Long, with fine-boned but still slightly thick tannins. A bit of heat at the back of the throat. (JH)