Chateau Fleur Cardinale 2020

  • 96 James
    Suckling
  • 95 Robert
    Parker
  • 94 Decanter
  • 93 Jeb
    Dunnuck
  • 92 Vinous
4.3 Very Good (22)
Sold Out - was $49.99
OFFER Take $20 off your order of $100+
Ships Fri, Apr 5
You purchased this 2/2/24
0
Limit Reached
You purchased this 2/2/24
Alert me about new vintages and availability
Chateau Fleur Cardinale  2020  Front Bottle Shot
Chateau Fleur Cardinale  2020  Front Bottle Shot Chateau Fleur Cardinale  2020  Front Label

Product Details


Varietal

Region

Producer

Vintage
2020

Size
750ML

ABV
14.5%

Your Rating

0.0 Not For Me NaN/NaN/N

Somm Note

Winemaker Notes

Professional Ratings

  • 96

    Attractive aromas of blueberries and mulberries with graphite, dark licorice and crushed stones. Dark chocolate, too. Full-bodied. Impressive quality to the tannin structure that starts gently and glossy and continues to build, gaining power throughout the palate. Deep and dense with a velvety dark-fruited core. Really long, tense and persistent. 77% merlot, 18% cabernet franc and 5% cabernet sauvignon.

  • 95

    Composed of 77% Merlot, 18% Cabernet Franc and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon, with an alcohol of 14.5% and a pH of 3.57, the deep purple-black colored 2020 Fleur Cardinale bursts from the glass with powerful notes of crushed blackberries, stewed black plums and Morello cherries, plus suggestions of star anise, pencil shavings and black truffles. The medium to full-bodied palate is chock-full of softly textured, juicy black fruits, countered by fantastic tension, finishing with great length and loads of earthy layers. Barrel Sample: 93-95

  • 94
    A ton of depth and body to this wine, you feel the cool blue fruit of a later-ripening terroir, plenty of tannic grip and bite, curls up with graphite, cigar box, liquorice root and a tiptoe balance of slate and baked earth. Plenty of juicy acidity on the finish, this is precise and elegant with a punch, and continues the run of successful vintages at Fleur Cardinale.
    Barrel Sample: 94
  • 93

    A solid step up, the Grand Vin 2020 Chateau Fleur Cardinale checks in as 77% Merlot, 18% Cabernet Franc and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon. This 22.5-hectare estate has been in the Decoster family since 2000 and consists of mostly clay over limestone soils and is located in the Saint-Etienne de Lisse region of Saint-Emilion. From healthy yields of 43 hectoliters per hectare, with malolactic fermentation in tank followed by 13 months in 90% new French oak, it has a juicy, pure, medium to full-bodied style that shows the classic, elegant style of the vintage beautifully. Offering lots of cassis-like fruit, notes of truffly earth, spring flowers, and violets, well-integrated acidity and tannins, and just a beautifully balanced mouthfeel, it's going to benefit from just 2-4 years of bottle age.

  • 92
    The 2020 Fleur Cardinale has a ripe and opulent nose with black cherries, kirsch and sous-bois; violent and inkwell touches emerge with time. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannins and fine delineation, though it hasn't entirely captured the complexity I felt it could have achieved from barrel. Still, it should age well in bottle, and a second tasting displayed a bit more nerve. -Neal Martin

Other Vintages

2022
  • 96 James
    Suckling
  • 96 Jeb
    Dunnuck
  • 94 Decanter
2021
  • 94 James
    Suckling
  • 94 Decanter
  • 93 Jeb
    Dunnuck
  • 92 Robert
    Parker
2019
  • 96 James
    Suckling
  • 94 Jeb
    Dunnuck
  • 94 Decanter
  • 92 Wine
    Enthusiast
  • 92 Wine
    Spectator
  • 92 Robert
    Parker
2018
  • 94 Wine
    Enthusiast
  • 94 Robert
    Parker
  • 94 James
    Suckling
  • 94 Decanter
  • 94 Jeb
    Dunnuck
  • 93 Wine
    Spectator
2016
  • 95 Jeb
    Dunnuck
  • 94 James
    Suckling
  • 93 Robert
    Parker
  • 92 Decanter
  • 92 Wine
    Enthusiast
  • 92 Wine
    Spectator
2015
  • 95 James
    Suckling
  • 94 Jeb
    Dunnuck
  • 93 Wine
    Spectator
  • 92 Robert
    Parker
  • 91 Decanter
2014
  • 94 James
    Suckling
  • 92 Wine
    Spectator
  • 90 Robert
    Parker
2012
  • 93 Robert
    Parker
  • 91 Wine
    Spectator
  • 91 James
    Suckling
2011
  • 93 Robert
    Parker
  • 91 Wine
    Enthusiast
  • 90 James
    Suckling
  • 90 Wine
    Spectator
2010
  • 95 Robert
    Parker
  • 93 Wine
    Spectator
  • 93 James
    Suckling
2009
  • 94 Robert
    Parker
  • 93 James
    Suckling
  • 93 Wine
    Spectator
2005
  • 95 Robert
    Parker
  • 93 Wine
    Spectator
Chateau Fleur Cardinale

Chateau Fleur Cardinale

View all products
Chateau Fleur Cardinale, France
Chateau Fleur Cardinale Winery Image
The estate was bought in 2001 by Florence and Dominique Decoster, and it has benefited form major investments which have made Chateau Fleur Cardinale one of the top names of the appellation. It is located to the east of the village of Saint-Émilion, on one of the high points of the appellation and it extends over 20 hectares. The vineyard is planted in a clay-limestone soil in the middle of the plateau on a pleasant late producing terroir. The vines are mainly merlot (70%) and then a balance of 15% cabernet sauvignon and 15% cabernet franc.

With it's great value for money, and showing great consistancy in it's quality, Chateau Fleur Cardinale was promoted to "Saint-Emilion Grand cru classé" in 2006.

Image for Bordeaux Blends content section
View all products

One of the world’s most classic and popular styles of red wine, Bordeaux-inspired blends have spread from their homeland in France to nearly every corner of the New World. Typically based on either Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot and supported by Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot, the best of these are densely hued, fragrant, full of fruit and boast a structure that begs for cellar time. Somm Secret—Blends from Bordeaux are generally earthier compared to those from the New World, which tend to be fruit-dominant.

Image for St-Émilion Wine Bordeaux, France content section

St-Émilion Wine

Bordeaux, France

View all products

Marked by its historic fortified village—perhaps the prettiest in all of Bordeaux, the St-Émilion appellation, along with its neighboring village of Pomerol, are leaders in quality on the Right Bank of Bordeaux. These Merlot-dominant red wines (complemented by various amounts of Cabernet Franc and/or Cabernet Sauvignon) remain some of the most admired and collected wines of the world.

St-Émilion has the longest history in wine production in Bordeaux—longer than the Left Bank—dating back to an 8th century monk named Saint Émilion who became a hermit in one of the many limestone caves scattered throughout the area.

Today St-Émilion is made up of hundreds of independent farmers dedicated to the same thing: growing Merlot and Cabernet Franc (and tiny amounts of Cabernet Sauvignon). While always roughly the same blend, the wines of St-Émilion vary considerably depending on the soil upon which they are grown—and the soils do vary considerably throughout the region.

The chateaux with the highest classification (Premier Grand Cru Classés) are on gravel-rich soils or steep, clay-limestone hillsides. There are only four given the highest rank, called Premier Grand Cru Classés A (Chateau Cheval Blanc, Ausone, Angélus, Pavie) and 14 are Premier Grand Cru Classés B. Much of the rest of the vineyards in the appellation are on flatter land where the soils are a mix of gravel, sand and alluvial matter.

Great wines from St-Émilion will be deep in color, and might have characteristics of blackberry liqueur, black raspberry, licorice, chocolate, grilled meat, earth or truffles. They will be bold, layered and lush.

FCA746175_2020 Item# 746175

Internet Explorer is no longer supported.
Please use a different browser like Edge, Chrome or Firefox to enjoy all that Wine.com has to offer.

It's easy to make the switch.
Enjoy better browsing and increased security.

Yes, Update Now

Search for ""