Wine Words & Video Tape

Wine, Words and Videotape

Fine Wine Review site

Château Potensac

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Address: 33340 Ordonnac

Telephone: +33 (0)5 56 73 25 26

Website: www.potensac.com

Château Potensac is a well-known chateau which regularly achieves the quality of a Bordeaux 5th Growth. Exceptionally good winemaking from the Delon team behind Château Léoville-Las-Cases, the wine has very precise and clean flavours. Generally it is typified by a strong colour, well defined intense fruit flavours and fine grained tannins. Potensac is rarely flashy or over oaked, but very well balanced and pure in style. Good vintages need a decade or so of cellaring to approach their best as the wine can seem a pent up in its youth. Potensac can easily for twenty years plus in great vintages.

Vineyard/Terrior: 53 hectares planted with 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot and 15% Cabernet Franc.

Winemaking/Elévage: Traditional with around 16 months in oak barrels.

Tasting notes:

  • 2013 Deep at centre; healthy purple at edge; vibrant Bordeaux – sappy, fresh, blackcurrant tones; salt and mineral hints; quite sturdy on the palate with good fruit and chew; freshness – tannin supple and ripe; lacks a bit of density on the finish [may well fill out] but an excellent effort in the vintage context. [49% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Franc, 1% Petit Verdot, 13.14% alc, TA 3.70, pH 3.67, IPT 60, 33% new oak, 10% press wine, 39hl/ha]. Tasted at Chateau Léoville-Las-Cases 31/3/14. 87-88+
  • 2012 Very nice healthy look; deep and vibrant at edge; saturated aroma; depth here and attractive; cassis and minerals; pretty dense palate; lots of material; some grip and tannin on the finish. Chewy but plenty of fruit here and nice length. Good Potensac. Tasted at Chateau Léoville-Las-Cases April 12, 2013. 48% Merlot, 33% Cabernet Sauvignon, 19% Cabernet Franc. 13.5% 88-90
  • 2010 Deep, saturated; quite velvety and very ripe on the nose; some smoke; very polished palate, thick and ripe with good mid-palate and attractive. Good grip too. 88-90+/100 Tasted 7 April 2011 at Chateau Léoville-Las-Cases.
  • 2001 Mid red, darkish at core. Elegant nose; some dust and earth but simple. Lacks depth and stuffing on palate; lean. Slight disappointing compared to the wines made here in ‘96 and ’00. 84/100 July ’09
  • 2000 Deep and dark, up to edge; initially solid and hard but with seam of blackcurrant fruit beneath; strong and dense but closed and dumb. Obvious weight and refinement but seems to have shut down. Needs two-three years to come out of its shell and will probably improve for ten. Potentially excellent. 88+/100 Jan ’09
  • 1996 Medium dark; some depth and still youthful; good intense fruit on nose, prunes, molasses with blackcurrant – again clean intense palate; concentrated with a good core of black fruits. Good finish with a nice balance of acidity. Fine and intense. 88/100 May ’05

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