Producer
Château Capbern

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The 2020 Capbern has a forward, fruit-driven bouquet with iodine-tinged black cherry fruit. It's actually quite floral—a bit of Margaux mixed with Saint-Estèphe! The palate is medium-bodied with ripe tannins, plenty of cedar and black-pepper-infused black fruit and an almost Tannat-like finish. It's just a bit uncompromising today. I would cellar this for three or four years. Tasted blind at the annual Southwold tasting.
The 2020 Capbern has a forward, fruit-driven bouquet with iodine-tinged black cherry fruit. It's actually quite floral—a bit of Margaux mixed with Saint-Estèphe! The palate is medium-bodied with ripe tannins, plenty of cedar and black-pepper-infused black fruit and an almost Tannat-like finish. It's just a bit uncompromising today. I would cellar this for three or four years. Tasted blind at the annual Southwold tasting.
The 2020 Capbern is composed of 69% Cabernet Sauvignon, 29% Merlot, 1% Cabernet Franc and 1% Petit Verdot, weighing in with 14.1% alcohol. It is due to be aged for around 18 months in French oak barrels, 60% new. Deep purple-black in color, the 2020 Capbern sings of black cherries, mulberries and redcurrant jelly, with hints of candied violets, wild sage and fertile loam. The medium-bodied palate has impressive verve and freshness, featuring soft, well-managed tannins, red and black berry layers and a mineral-tinged finish. Drink 2023-2035
This is a fantastic Capbern with singular purity and precision. The message is not a complex one but it is focussed, clean as a whistle and penetrative with ripe, but cool cassis tones and perfectly balanced oak. This is one of the great value wines of Bordeaux and in 2020 it embraces the vintage characteristics, the Saint-Estèphe terroir and also its Calon Ségur parentage perfectly.
Dense but vibrant and aromatic. Plenty of crunchy fruit and freshness. Bigger structure than 2019, closer to 2018, the tannins firm and textured. Dry, persistent finish. One for the cellar. Should be GV. (JL) 14.1%. Drink 2027 – 2040
Readers looking for an off-the-charts value should snatch up the 2020 Château Capbern, which emerges from the same team as Calon Ségur. Offering a vivid bouquet of cassis, leafy tobacco, violets, damp earth, and chocolate, it hits the palate with medium to full-bodied richness, perfectly ripe fruit (not overripe, not underripe), ultra-fine, integrated tannins, and the mix of freshness and richness that’s part of all great wines. It’s a hidden gem in Saint-Estèphe.
Spicy, dark red berries, blackberry, savory herbs, cedar and cigar box open the nose. On the palate the wine is fleshy, rich, chewy and packed with ripe currants with peppery, savory herbs. There is length, freshness, complexity and character here. This a vineyard to keep an eye on as it getting better and better. The wine blends 69% Cabernet Sauvignon, 29% Merlot, 1% Cabernet Franc and 1% Petit Verdot, 14.1% ABV.
St Estèphe is the most northern of Médoc communal crus. Its unique terroir is made up of layers of gravel which are supported by a dense clay base. This subsoil retains water in dry seasons and works particularly well with Merlot, a largely planted variety which is used to flesh out Cabernet Sauvignon. This clay base also creates powerful, textured tannins which enable St Estèphe to stand out from the pack. Like St Julien, it is one of the four most important communal appellations of the Médoc which does not contain any first growths, despite its southern border being a stone'sthrow from Château Lafite. Nonetheless, it is home to some excellent châteaux making fine wines such as Cos d'Estournel, Montrose, Calon Ségur and Lafon Rochet.