This is another over-achieving estate that tends to produce wines with lots of intensity and structure. This wine certainly has the formidable intensity one expects from Charmail, but the tannins are silky smooth and the result is the sexiest Charmail to date. An opulent, even voluptuously textured wine, full-bodied and dense purple in color, it is a seductive blend of 47% Merlot, 35% Cabernet Sauvignon and the rest Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. It was bottled unfined and unfiltered and came in with natural alcohols of 14%. The low acidity, plush fruit and silky tannins all suggest drinking this over the next decade. It is another sleeper of the vintage, of which there is nearly an endless supply in this great year.
90 Points, The Wine Advocate (2012)
Dark, showing a slight brawny edge, as tar and coffee notes lead the way for dark fig and mulled currant fruit. The tobacco-tinged finish is nicely chewy. Best from 2013 through 2019.
89 Points, Wine Spectator (2012)
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