2022 Château Berliquet En Primeur
Released en primeur earlier today, 2022 Château Berliquet is offered at £274 per six, which seems pretty good value to us for a wine with such precision of aromas and fine, polished texture on the palate. Berliquet is sometimes overshadowed by its more famous Chanel-owned sibling estates, Château Canon and Rauzan-Ségla, but this latest vintage seems to show the strongest individual identity of any we have yet tasted.
The blend this year is 65% Merlot and 35% Cabernet Franc, though the estate is gradually planting more Cabernet Franc, with the aim of eventually bringing the proportions up to 50:50, as this variety does so well on the soils here; a mix of sand, limestone and clay, with a higher proportion of sand than is found at Canon.
We found great delicacy and freshness on the nose in 2022 Berliquet, matched by a refreshing salinity on the palate. It may not have some of the weight of Canon, but where it triumphs is in its graceful elegance on the palate.
The 2022 offers world-class winemaking from Nicholas Audebert, but at just over £45 per bottle in bond, it does so quite affordably and William Kelley calls it "another of the vintage's more attractive en primeur proportions". We have no doubt that with Chanel's aspirations and investment behind it, Berliquet will rise steadily in price and reputation over the next few years, but for now it remains an affordable addition to your cellar.
Offered en primeur, landing spring 2025.
Magnums available with £15 ex-VAT bottling surcharge, please enquire for other formats.
Landing in spring 2025.
Limited availability. To order, e-mail us at sales@richardkihl.ltd.uk
Producer Profile
Château Berliquet, St.-Émilion Grand Cru Classé
Château Berliquet is a Grand Cru Classé St.-Émilion estate, founded in 1768, making it one of the oldest estates in the region. It was also one of the first estates to sell the wine under its own name, with records dating to 1784.
In 2007 Nicolas Thienpont and Stéphane Derenoncourt started working here as consultants. Optical sorting was introduced with the 2009 vintage and the estate also recently purchased two new back-to-back sorting tables and increased the number of vats in their cellars to allow the estate to vinify on a block-by-block and grape varietal by varietal basis.
In July 2017 Berliquet to the Chanel Group, joining neighbouring Chateau Canon, as well as Chateau Rauzan Segla in Margaux. Nicolas Audebert manages the property. The 10 hectares are vines are planted to 75% Merlot, 23% Cabernet Franc and 2% Cabernet Sauvignon. The terroir is clay, chalk and limestone soils. The vineyard has a vine density of 6,000 vines per hectare. The average vine age is around 40 years. The vineyard is one large, single block of vines, with the best parcels on the limestone plateau. An average of 3,500 cases are produced each year.
| RED | 2022 | 1 case | Château Berliquet | 75cl | £274 per case of 6 | Château Berliquet 2022 / 1 case / 75cl £274 per case of 6 |
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Tasting Notes"The 2022 Berliquet is super-concentrated, dark and ripe, but also without the forbidding tannins of the past. Succulent plum fruit, mocha, licorice and dried herbs are some of the many notes that grace this gorgeous Saint-Émilion. It will be interesting to see where the 2022 ends up post élevage. Today it is full-bodied and quite opulent. Tasted four times. 91-93 points" Antonio Galloni, Vinous.com------"Lots of dark and crushed stones with blackberries and black olives. Dark earth. Full-bodied and more concentrated with very intense fruit and chewy tannins. Velvety and slightly rough, but all there. 93-94 points" jamessuckling.com------"Dark damson colour, beautiful sense of upliflt and freshness, with mint leaf, sage, wild rosemary, cassis fruits. Slate texture to the wine here, feels carved out and crafted, with edges of austerity that constrict the cassis and raspberry fruit. 44% new oak, 8 amphoras (around 10% of overall), the rest in one year old barrel, 45hl/h yield. Great stuff. 94 points" janeanson.com------"The 2022 Berliquet is brilliant, bursting with aromas of plums, wild berries and lilac, followed by a medium to full-bodied, concentrated and vibrant palate that's deep and mineral. It's likely to be another of the vintage's more attractive en primeur proportions. This estate just goes from strength to strength—and that's before its new winery has been constructed! One of the most significant changes has been opting to retain higher canopies, which means that the fruiting zone of rows planted along the slope are now shaded, preserving freshness. 94-95 points" William Kelley, RobertParker.com------"Candied cherries, tapenade, violets, and floral notes all emerge from the 2022 Château Berliquet, a medium to full-bodied, seamless Saint-Emilion that brings plenty of ripeness while staying nicely balanced, light on its feet, and elegant. Based on 65% Merlot and 35% Cabernet Franc, from yields of 31.2 hectoliter per hectare, it will spend 16 months in 44% new French oak, with a portion of the blend aged in amphora. This isn't the most powerful or opulent wine in the vintage, but it's as seamless and graceful as they come. 94-96 points" Jebdunnuck.com |
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