CHÂTEAU LES CRUZELLES
2016 Lalande de Pomerol
90% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc. Again a subdued nose, lovely texture of thick cream, full of blackcurrant fruit and fresher, herb-filled lushness. Real wine, really rather a joy. Drinking range: 2022 - 2030 Rating: 90-91 L&S (Apr 2017)
* This is a pre-shipment/primeur offer. All orders are accepted under the TERMS of this offer which differ from the terms of the rest of the site.
The 2016 Les Cruzelles has quite a high-toned bouquet compared to the La Chenade, featuring black cherries, lavender, balsamic and light cedar aromas. The palate is medium-bodied with grainy tannins and a fine bead of acidity. Compared to previous showings, I found this a little angular in style, although with age, it will coalesce. Give this two or three years in bottle. Tasted blind at the annual Southwold tasting. Drinking range: 2022 - 2038 Rating: 90+ Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Aug 2020)
From more clay soils, the 2016 Château Cruzelles is a darker, more structured effort and offers plenty of blackcurrant fruit, notes of smoked earth, gravelly minerality, and underbrush, medium to full body, and a balanced, beautifully layered style. The 2016 vintage is loaded with high-quality wines that represent terrific values and this is one of them. Drink it over the coming 10-15 years. Drinking range: 2019 - 2034 Rating: 92+ Jeb Dunnuck, www.jebdunnuck.com (Feb 2019)
The 2016 Les Cruzelles is every bit as captivating from bottle as it was from barrel. Dense, pliant and inviting, the 2016 has so much to offer. Black cherry, plum, menthol, licorice, new leather and lavender all run through this super-expressive, pliant Lalande de Pomerol from Denis Durantou. The 2016 offers a striking combination of fruit intensity and structure. I loved it. Drinking range: 2021 - 2031 Rating: 93 Antonio Galloni, www.vinous.com (Jan 2019)
The 2016 Les Cruzelles, Denis Durantou's second estate in Lalande-de-Pomerol, is a blend of 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc picked 22-29 September and on 6 October, respectively. The yield is 40 hectoliters per hectare, and it is matured in 50% new oak. It has a very fragrant bouquet with perfumed red cherry and crushed strawberry fruit infused with minerals, like the La Chenade, very harmonious and detailed. The palate is medium-bodied with crunchy red berry fruit, crisp acidity, a little spicier than the La Chenade and perhaps with a touch more persistence on the finish. Cellar space should be made for this sensual and engaging wine, and if prices follow their trend as in previous years, it could be one of the Right Bank's outstanding values. Drinking range: 2020 - 2035 Rating: 91-93 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Apr 2017)
90% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc. Picked 22-29 September and 6 October. More clay and 50% new oak. Ripe and round with real racy structure. Lots of energy and a little more tannin than the Chenade. Good stuff! Drinking range: 2022 - 2030 Rating: 16.5+ Jancis Robinson OBE MW - www.JancisRobinson.com (Apr 2017)
The juicy, fun raspberry and blackberry fruit has melded nicely with singed anise and fruitcake accents. Polished finish. Rating: 88-91 James Suckling, The Wine Spectator (Apr 2017)
A very finely textured red with cherries, chocolate and berries. Medium body and fine tannins. A beauty. Rating: 91-92 James Suckling, www.jamessuckling.com (Apr 2017)
The 2016 Lés Cruzelles is a more serious, structured wine than the Chenade. Beams of tannin give the wine its sense of energy and drive. Blue and purplish hued stone fruits, licorice, lavender, menthol and graphite are nicely delineated. Far from an easygoing wine, the 2016 will need a year or two in bottle to be at its best. I was not at all surprised when proprietor Denis Durantou told me he planned to give the 2016 an extra month or two in barrel. The wine will probably need all of that added time in barrel to fully come together. Rating: 90-93 Antonio Galloni, www.vinous.com (Apr 2017)
Les Cruzelles is sourced from clay soils and tends to be more structured and backward than its stable mate, La Chenade. Firm and slightly gruff in its youth, but with lovely underlying fruit, subtle oak and the texture that it always a feature of Denis Durantou’s wines. Drinking range: 2022 - 2030 Rating: 92 Tim Atkin MW, www.timatkin.com (Apr 2017)
The 2016 Les Cruzelles has quite a high-toned bouquet compared to the La Chenade, featuring black cherries, lavender, balsamic and light cedar aromas. The palate is medium-bodied with grainy tannins and a fine bead of acidity. Compared to previous showings, I found this a little angular in style, although with age, it will coalesce. Give this two or three years in bottle. Tasted blind at the annual Southwold tasting. Drinking range: 2022 - 2038 Rating: 90 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Dec 1899)
Château les Cruzelles
Among the brightest stars of the exalted Pomerol appellation is Denis Durantou at Château l’Eglise-Clinet. Little more than a kilometre to the north, near enough to see one from t’other, across the Barbanne stream in Lalande-de-Pomerol is Château les Cruzelles, also owned by Denis. The 10ha of vines boast the highest proportion of Cabernet Franc in the area – 40% - with the rest being the more usual Merlot. Aside from Château les Cruzelles proper Denis also produces here La Chenade, a Lalande-de-Pomerol cuvee he made with Cruzelles’ grapes even before he bought the estate in 2000. Denis also owns a small vineyard of 35 year old Merlot vines at Saint Etienne de Lisse at the eastern end of St Emilion that goes under the name of Saintayme. And, a little further south-east, across the boundary in the Côtes de Castillon is Château Montlandrie that Denis bought in 2009. Much renovation has taken place at the 12ha vineyard that includes, almost uniquely for the Right Bank, new plantings of Cabernet Sauvignon that now make up 15% of the vineyard alongside the usual 65% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Franc.
Please make sure that you have read the terms of this offer which are different from those of the main website. If you are unclear as to what is involved in primeur purchases please do call us, but see the 'practical notes' below.
Ordering
Prices are per case as listed 'in bond London'.
Pre-Orders are a firm commitment from you to buy the wines you order on release, subject to the price being below the upper price of the estimated band on our website. You may also set your own upper price limit, lower or higher than ours. Pre-orders will be fulfilled subject to availability. Providing this firm commitment to us effectively gives you priority.
Wines listed on the website (after any pre-orders and allocations have been fulfilled) can be ordered in the usual way via the website order form or by email or telephone 020 7221 1982, always subject to stock remaining.
Confirmation
All orders will be confirmed by email and are contractually binding unless written cancellation is received within seven days of the confirmation date, apart from pre-orders which are binding if the release price is below the top estimate or other price you have set.
Invoices are raised at the In Bond price, excluding any duty and VAT which will become payable at the prevailing rates on arrival of the wine if required duty paid.
Payment is required on sight of invoice, by cash, cheque, debit card or credit transfer. We reserve the right to charge 2% per month on invoices unpaid after 30 days.
Delivery
- Shipment to our bond (LCB Creek Road) and insurance are included in the in bond price.
- Delivery is free to Lea and Sandeman / Elephant storage accounts, both duty paid and in bond.
- Other deliveries (In Bond and Duty Paid) are also free subject to a minimum order from the offer of £1000, orders below this total will be charged £16.50+ VAT when the wine invoices are issued. We will group deliveries and this is a charge for your entire purchases, not a per-case charge.
- Delivery for 2016 Bordeaux primeurs will probably be completed by October 2019, but we make no guarantee as to specific delivery times, and some of the Sauternes may be later.
Practical notes - how it works
We start a sale in each customer's name and add all their primeur orders to one sale which is invoiced at the end of the campaign (or when the customer wishes) for immediate payment. We and our customers find that having a single invoice for the vintage is the simpler option, but do please note that confirmed orders are still binding as above even if the final invoice has not been issued.
When the wine is shipped, unless previously specified we will assume that delivery is to be to bonded storage with Elephant Storage, but in any case, we will contact you requesting any alternative instructions. If you have another bonded delivery address you would like the wine to go to, please tell us at the time of ordering. If the wines are required duty-paid we will issue invoices at the rates prevailing at the time for the excise duty (currently £25.98 per case) and the VAT (currently at 20%) on the total of the wine cost and the duty.
Half-bottles, Magnums and larger bottles.
One of the additional advantages of buying en primeur is being able to order the wine in the bottle size you want. Even if a wine is only listed in one size, you can order any bottle or case size you want if the property supplies it, but you must order the case/bottle size you require and check that the correct size has been invoiced.
Additional charges are as follows:-
- +£15 per case of 24 half-bottles
- +£15 per case of 6 Magnums (2 bottles equivalent, 1.5 litres each)
- +£35 per individually boxed Double Magnum (4 bottles equivalent, 3 litres)
- +£45 per individually boxed Imperial (8 bottles equivalent, 6 litres) for Salmanazars, Balthazars, Nebuchadnezzars and Melchiors please enquire for availability and price.