CHÂTEAU CHARMAIL
2020 Cru Bourgeois Supérieur Haut Médoc
| Grapes | Merlot, Cab Franc, Cab Sauv, Petit Verdot |
| Colour | Red |
| Origin | France, Bordeaux |
| Sub-district | Haut Médoc |
| Classification | Cru Bourgeois Supérieur |
| ABV | 14% |
41.2% Merlot, 33% Cabernet Sauvignon, 14.6% Cabernet Franc, 11.2% Petit Verdot. L&S (May 2021)
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The 2020 Charmail is powerful, brooding and also a touch monolithic. The 2020 possesses good depth and tons of intensity. Black cherry, gravel, dried herbs and licorice all open in this burly Haut-Médoc. Drinking range: 2023 - 2030 Rating: 88 Antonio Galloni, www.vinous.com (Feb 2023)
The 2020 Charmail has a harmonious, quite floral bouquet with plenty of violet-tinged black fruit. I admire the purity here. The palate is well balanced with pliant tannins, well-integrated oak, a mélange of red and black fruit mixed with blood orange towards the finish. There is something almost "flirty" about this Haut-Médoc! Drinking range: 2024 - 2038 Rating: 90 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Feb 2023)
There is ‘amaro’ bitterness here which is arresting and it rather spoils the shape of this wine which ought to be medium- weight and smooth but it turns out to be medium-weight and aggressively hard and dry. The oak is all-pervasive and the fruit is beaten up and submissive and this is a real shame. A recipe change is needed and fast. Rating: 16+? Matthew Jukes www.matthewjukes.com (Jun 2021)
Château Charmail
The name Charmail comes from its 16th century origins, when the Trevey de Charmail family settled in the Medoc. It's a property on classic Médoc gravel and clay, of about 27.5 hectares, sitting high up and overlooking the Gironde.
Olivier Sèze bought Charmail in 1982. A leader in many ways, both in viticulture and in winemaking, he developed a process of pre-fermentation cold maceration, still used here now, which produces deeper coloured, fatter wines with soft tannins and this, along with the relatively high proportion of Merlot for the Haut-Médoc (50%), gives wines that are ready to drink within 4 to 6 years of the vintage. It also seems to make Charmail a fairly good bet in lesser vintages. The grapes are all hand-harvested and the wine is aged in barrel for 12 months.
In 2008 Bernard d’Halluin bought Charmail, and it was agreed that Olivier should continue to work there and be part of the new team, in charge of the winemaking. Bernard's daughter Marie has taken charge of the presentation and marketing.
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