Château La Variere – La Grande Chevalerie – 2011

The colour is youthful and quite dark. Dark ruby almost with a black core. Pure nose, displaying youthful fruit, more on the dark fruity side. There is clearly a Cabernet notion here, so more on the blackcurrant, black and redcurrant, dark plum. There are some aromatic herbs as well like sage, a hint of chocolate. Discreet hint of wood. With some aeration it is showing a bit more evolution. There is some meatiness going on as well, so it is not that young actually. Fine spiciness emerging as we swirl the glass. The palate I think this keeps within a quite medium-bodied frame. But it does have a good intensity of those dark berries. Pure fresh cassis, with some herbal notes. Dark plum, slight touch of chocolate, oak well-integrated. Really fine freshness. The tannins have integrated already. So quite long and refreshing finish. Good purity, a slight mineral notion. Good pure expression of what I think is a very fine example of Cabernet Franc.