Chateau du Faure Haut Normand – 2019

Official Tasting Notes:

100% Merlot, hand-picked then aged in 50% new French oak from a small vineyard looking down (geographically speaking) on Pomerol and St Emilion. Dany and Michel Rolland made wine with the classic deep fruits, chocolate covered strawberries come to mind. Deep powerful Pomerol-esque red wine with strong tannins and dark red hues. Good job -well done!

John’s View

The summer was long and hot so the harvest was smaller than usual and we have only 200 cases available (so get in quick!). However the heat produced a wine that is soft with plenty of body and depth of flavour.

We gave it an extra 3 months in oak so compared to the 2018 it is more rounded, with strawberry rather than blackcurrant flavours, it smells more chocolatey and is a little less spicy. I love (but I am a bit biased) the dark red colour and the smell of ripe plums (more than strawberries to my nose).

Needs decanting for an hour or two before drinking but already goes beautifully with red meats and cheese – we had it with a rib of beef the other night – bloody marvellous! Will of course keep getting better and will last until 2040 with good cellaring – well any dark room without too much heat will do just fine.