2015 Chateau Croizet-Bages 5. Cru

France / Bordeaux / Medoc / Haut-Medoc / Pauillac 5. Cru Rouge
 
During the first half of the 18th century, the Croizet brothers consolidated small plots of land to the south of Pauillac, in the hamlet of Bages. 
 
In 1853, Julien Calvé purchased the estate and gave it his name: Calvé-Croizet-Bages. 
It was under the name Château Croizet-Bages, however, that the estate was classified as a 5th Grand Cru in 1855.
 
Soon after the First World War, Jean Baptiste Monnot, an American citizen who owned the renowned Klaxon brand, purchased the estate and sold it in 1942 to Paul Quié, a wine broker.

Since 1968, his son Jean-Michel has managed Château Croizet-Bages, now with his children, Anne-Françoise and Jean-Philippe, the 3rd generation of the Quié family to run this Pauillac Grand Cru Classé.
The Quié family is also the owner of Château Bel Orme Tronquoy-de-Lalande, Cru Bourgeois of Saint-Seurin de Cadourne (1936) and Rauzan-Gassies, 2nd Cru Classé of Margaux bought in 1946.
 
Vineyard:
Soil: Gravel with chalky and iron-bearing sands basement.
Surface: 30 hectares.
Average age of the vineyard: 35 years.
Grape varieties: 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 32% Merlot, 8% Cabernet Franc.
Making process: Strict qualitative grape selection on vine shoots before harvesting. Cold maceration for 48 hours before fermentation. Plot by plot fermentation in concrete vats. Ageing for 12 months in oak barrels, with 25% new oak.
Ageing potential: More than 15 years.
 
2015 Château Croizet-Bages 5. Cru tasting notes:
 
Wine Enthusiast (January 2018): “This wine is tough and extracted, with dark-chocolate flavors as well as tannins. Its hard outer shell is rescued by the ripe black-currant fruits of the Cabernet Sauvignon in the blend. Drink from 2025”.
 
The Wine Cellar Insider/Jeff Leve (April 2016): “A bouquet of plums, cassis, earth, and tobacco, medium bodied and with a rusticity in the tannins that is exposed in the end notes”.