2015 Moulin Rouge (Haut Medoc)

The 2015 Château du Moulin Rouge, which spent 12 months in new French oak, has quite a plush red cherry and strawberry scented bouquet, hints of vanilla emerging with time. There is less greenness than I noticed when I tasted this wine last year. The palate is ripe on the entry with crisp acidity, lightly spiced with a dash of black pepper sprinkled over the red fruit on the finish. There is a slight metallic note that should disappear with some bottle age. Very fine. Tasted at the Oenoconseil tasting room in Bordeaux.

From proprietors Laurence Ribeiro and Lucie Secret, the 2015 Château Du Moulin Rouge is a medium-bodied, firm, focused effort offering impressive amounts of plums, cassis, graphite and leafy herbs. Made from 50% Merlot, 40% Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Cabernet Franc from vines planted between Margaux and Saint Julien, give bottles 2-3 years of bottle age and enjoy over the following 7-8 years.

Tasted at the Cru Bourgeois annual tasting, the 2015 Moulin-Rouge showed much better here in bottle than out of barrel. It has an open red cherry and cranberry-scented bouquet with a touch of greenness that I can abide. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannin, bright red berry fruit, fleshy and quite sensual in the mouth with a nicely detailed finish attesting to some very well-integrated oak. This is a well-crafted Haut-Médoc to enjoy over the next decade. Tasted September 2017.