2024 Fleur Cardinale
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Tasting notes
Incredibly exotic, with a liquid flower and sappy character that's balanced by bright red fruits and floral notes, the 2024 Château Fleur Cardinale is medium-bodied, has a juicy, focused mouthfeel, high yet integrated acidity, and outstanding length. This singular, incredibly floral, exotic Saint-Émilion should come together nicely in bottle.
Critic scores
Average Score
Yohan Castaing, Wine Advocate
Jane Anson, Inside Bordeaux
More reviews and scores
Deep garnet-purple colored. Leaps with fragrant scents of roses and fertile loam, leading a core of juicy strawberries and cranberries, plus a touch of iron ore. The light to medium-bodied palate is lively and savory with red berry flavors on the soft textured finish.
The 2024 Fleur Cardinale offers aromas of oak, smoke and spices, followed by a medium-bodied, structured and compact palate with a chewy core of fruit leading to brittle tannins.
Maison Cardinale, as the overall Decoster group of estates is now called, has produced a wine with energy and lift. Doing this in the 2024 vintage without overpowering acidity is a tough ask, but you can find a good example of what is possible here - smooth rich blackberry and red cherry fruits, firm tannic grip, definitely on the slim side of fruit expression on these north-facing slopes but with a ton slate minerality and finesse. 36% new oak, 42hl/h yield, 26ha vineyard, 25% 600l new oak casks, and 2% amphora. They have introduced a variety of differently-sized containers for ageing, overseen by technical director Ludovine Chagnon. The blend given is likely to be final, but the decision will be taken after ageing.