Roc de Cambes 2015

The 2015 Roc de Cambes, the Côtes de Bourg from François Mitjavile, has a wonderful, engaging bouquet that still leans a little toward Burgundy with lovely brambly black fruit with a hint of bergamot, wonderfully defined. The palate is medium-bodied with fine-grain tannin, ebullient black fruit laced with mineral and a very precise finish that will need a couple more years to fully integrate. It is a bit standoffish at the moment so be patient. Anticipated maturity: 2022 - 2035.

The 2015 Roc des Cambes has an incredibly pure bouquet that is as much Côtes de Nuits as Côtes de Bourg! Wonderful cassis mixed with dark cherries and a touch of bergamot. The palate is very well balanced with hints of fresh date and fig on the entry, a fine bead of acidity here, slightly powdery in texture with impressive balance and tension on the finish. François Mitjavile's wine always benefits from 3-4 years in bottle, although I would not begrudge anyone succumbing to temptation earlier. Drink 2019-2032

Deep garnet-purple colored, the 2015 Roc de Cambes has very pure notes of cassis, blackberries and plums with nuances of cigar box, anise and lavender. The medium to full-bodied palate offers generous fruit, great concentration and freshness with firm, grainy tannins and an herbal lift on the finish. Drink 2018-2032.

The 2015 Roc de Cambes is dense, powerful and savory in style. Iron, grilled herbs, tobacco and cedar are some of the many notes that give the wine its distinctive feral personality. Energetic and vibrant in the glass, it offers notable intensity in a wild, almost unrestrained style. This especially forbidding, rustic 2015 needs a bit of time to be at its very best; I would give it at least a year or two in bottle to allow the tannins to soften a bit. The blend is 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Sauvignon, but the Cabernet is especially strong. 2020 - 2035

Iron, smoke and tobacco wrap around a core of expressive red-fleshed fruit in the 2015 Roc de Cambes. Powerful and explosive, with a real sense of energy, the 2015 packs a serious punch. There is no shortage of intensity or richness here, but the Roc de Cambes is not quite as racy or unctuous as the Domaine des Cambes. The 20% Cabernet Franc helps keep a measure of freshness.

Tasted blind. Racy and fresh. Biscuit flavour. Sweet oak and rather luscious. (Alex Hunt MW says it’s dried flowers from a cupboard and gravy.)
Drink 2023-2032

Very intense and rich. Great spice and softness. Totally unlike anything else. Perfumed but with such gorgeous mastery of tannins. What a contrast to the tenseness of the Pavie stable. Already gorgeous!
Drink 2019-2030

Often close in quality to the same owner's top Saint Emilion, Le Tertre Roteboeuf. This Cotes de Bourg is head and shoulders the best wine of the appellation and very much a wine for those "in the know". A right bank wine, yet only 4 or 5 kilometres from Chateau Margaux as the crow flies. This vineyard is a south facing slope with well ventilated vines. The Cabernet Sauvignon vines here are over 50 years old. The blend is 20% Cabernet with the rest Merlot and a touch of Malbec. Deep ruby colour with oodles of black forest fruits, sweet vanilla and kirsch on the nose. The palate is as intense as the nose is aromatic, with an explosion of juicy, ripe, opulent black fruit and a kaliedoscopic array of sweet and savoury spices from vanilla to nutmeg and cumin. The tannins are plentiful but only serve to add further soft and silky volume to this already full bodied wine. The intensity and concentration are outstanding, but the retention of mineral tension further elevates this wine. Roc de Cambes once again defies its appellation with its quality. Outstanding.

Sweet fruit ripe fruit the nose has a rich mix of flavours the palate sweet supple with fine tannins. The richness and sweetness is balanced by lighter fresher bramble there is flesh yet freshness, richness not opulence the back palate lighter the finish long and elegant. 2022-36

François Mitjavile is not afraid of ripeness in his wines - an effect exaggerated by the circuslike
lay of the land - and this is correspondingly soft, spicy and jammy. The tannins are finely
wrought here, the oak is savoury-sweet, the alcohol warming on the palate. Drink: 2020-26

Two shades darker than Domaine de Cambes, and with few of the wilder notes from l’Aurage, this is a honed and distinguished
wine with tempered energy and tremendous concentration. The density of fruit and power is sensational and
it is already, seemingly, sexy, bright and pure. This is a stunning Roc de Cambes and it is perfectly balanced with juicy raspberry, damson and blueberry notes appearing among the darker tones. Relatively forward and already flattering to
deceive I expect it will live for an age but it is very attractive already! There is a lovely, bright pinch of mint on the finish,
too which distracts the palate from the fit tannins.