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Les Cruzelles 2019

Lalande de Pomerol

Units	Size	Case size	GBP Price:	Quantities	Buy
78	75cl Bottle	Case 6	£105 per Case	Cases	[Add to shopping basket]

Tasting Notes
Tasted blind. Some rich fruit and real generosity. There is lots of tannin but no excessive drying sensation on the finish. GV 14.5% Score: 17 Jancis Robinson MW, JancisRobinson.com Maturity: 2026-2040 03 February 2023
The 2019 Les Cruzelles comes across rather muted on the nose at the moment, pretty red fruit laced with truffle and black pepper. The palate is medium-bodied with a pastille-like entry, gentle grip, becoming ever spicier in the mouth with a healthy dose of white pepper and sage towards the finish. Moderate length - this is a Pomerol that grows on you. Tasted blind at the Southwold annual tasting. Score: 92 Neal Martin, Vinous.com Maturity: 2025-2042 01 February 2023
The 2019 Les Cruzelles offers disarming aromas of blackberry and blueberry fruit, perhaps a little more discreet than some of Durantou’s other cuvées and requiring more coaxing from the glass. The palate is very well balanced with fine tannins and perfectly judged acidity, the 40% new oak neatly integrated. Fans out with confidence on the aftertaste, which turns increasingly peppery courtesy of the 20% Cabernet Franc. This is very promising. Score: 92 Neal Martin, Vinous.com Maturity: 2023 - 2033 01 February 2022
The 2019 Les Cruzelles, the late Denis Durantou's Lalande-de-Pomerol estate, was picked between 18 and 28 September and matured in 30% new oak. It has a very really gorgeous bouquet with disarmingly pure blackberry and blueberry fruit. The oak is seamlessly integrated. The palate is medium-bodied with dark berry fruit mixed with dried orange peel and a pinch of sea salt. This has so much character and personality, the salinity on the finish lingers wonderfully. Score: 91 - 93 Neal Martin, Vinous.com Maturity: 2023-2033 16 June 2020
The 2019 Les Cruzelles, the late Denis Durantou's Lalande-de-Pomerol estate, was picked between 18 and 28 September and matured in 30% new oak. It has a very really gorgeous bouquet with disarmingly pure blackberry and blueberry fruit. The oak is seamlessly integrated. The palate is medium-bodied with dark berry fruit mixed with dried orange peel and a pinch of sea salt. This has so much character and personality, the salinity on the finish lingers wonderfully. Score: 91 - 93 Neal Martin, Vinous.com Maturity: 2023-2033 01 June 2020
Ripe black cherries, blueberries, iron, spring flowers, and a touch of chocolaty minerality emerge from the 2019 Château Les Cruzelles, another incredible success from Denis Durantou. Rich, medium to full-bodied, and concentrated, you should buy a case and drink bottles any time over the coming 10-15 years. Score: 94 Jeb Dunnuck, JebDunnuck.com Maturity: 2022-2037 11 April 2022
The 2019 Les Cruzelles is another terrific success for an estate that's the reference point for what's possible in the Lalande-de-Pomerol appellation. Unwinding in the glass with aromas of sweet red berries, raw cocoa, orange rind, rose petals and loamy soil, it's medium to full-bodied, lively and concentrated, with beautifully refined tannins and a more tightly wound, structured profile than its sibling in the Durantou portfolio, La Chenade. Score: 93 William Kelley, Wine Advocate, RobertParker.com Maturity: 2025 - 2045 07 April 2022
Blackberries and blueberries with floral and sandalwood undertones. Medium-bodied with cedar highlights and long, linear tannins. Shows energy and brightness. Try after 2024. Score: 93 James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com Maturity: 2024+ 04 February 2022
This is smoky, spicy and meaty with blueberry character. It’s medium-bodied with a chewy texture and a tight, pronounced finish. Serious. Score: 92 - 93 James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com 13 May 2020
The 2019 Les Cruzelles is a very serious wine. Black cherry, gravel, graphite, cloves, leather and smoke confer a real feeling of gravitas. Inky and explosive, with tremendous resonance, the Cruzelles is a winner and without question one of the stars in this range from the Durantou family. Score: 93 Antonio Galloni, Vinous.com Maturity: 2024 - 2039 01 February 2022
The 2019 Les Cruzelles is a big wine. Black cherry, gravel, smoke, licorice and new leather blast out of the glass. Dizzyingly intense and deep, with equally potent tannins, Les Cruzelles is fabulous in 2019. It is also going to need at least a few years in bottle to come together. Harvest took place from September 18 and 25 for the Merlot and September 28 for the Franc.Denis Durantou's 2019s are absolutely brilliant across the board. My tasting was obviously bittersweet, as Durantou lost his battle with illness just a few weeks prior. Denis Durantou was one of the most intriguing characters in Bordeaux. I can't say I knew him well, but I always enjoyed tasting with him, as he was a person that spoke more with his eyes than with words. Things were implied rather than overtly stated. So, I tasted the 2019s with daughters Constance and Noémie over Zoom, in typical 2020 fashion. The Durantou sisters describe 2019 as a year with an early flowering and homogenous ripening that led to small, concentrated berries and higher pHs than normal. Temperatures were kept cool in the cellar, where both alcoholic and malolactic fermentations took place over cuvaison of 21 days (for all wines), in a reductive environment with little oxygen. From top to bottom, the Durantou 2019s are positively stellar. Don't miss them! Score: 92 - 94 Antonio Galloni, Inside Bordeaux 01 June 2020
Lots of smoked grilled herb and black fruit notes here, this has the same reduction as La Chenade, but it's gorgeous, with an espresso edge and a ton of liquorice bud. Lots of fresh acidities, carefully placed, tiptoeing through the palate. The 2018 is a more exuberant Les Cruzelles, but this is a serious wine, with real character and life ahead. 40% new oak. Score: 93 Jane Anson, Inside Bordeaux Maturity: 2023-2040 26 January 2022
For me this stands out above La Chenade, in the yin and yang of these two terroirs. Has more signature of the Pomerol side of Lalande, with rich coffee-tinged blackberry fruits, still with beautiful control and lift. Silky, elegant, concentrated. This is a wine that stands as a tribute to the brilliance of Denis Durantou in these smaller appellations, and is one that you will drink with emotion. Score: 93 Jane Anson, Decanter.com Maturity: 2023-2036 14 May 2020
This wine is produced by Denis Darantou and family of Château L’Eglise-Clinet. Deep garnet-purple in color, the 2019 Les Cruzelles (a blend of 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Franc) opens with powerful black fruit scents of ripe blackberries, black cherries and mulberries with underlying floral notions of lilacs and wilted roses and hints of dark chocolate, fertile loam and mossy tree bark. The medium to full-bodied palate is chock-full of expressive, crunchy black fruits, framed by chunky tannins and just enough freshness, finishing with a peppery kick. Score: 90 - 92 Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW, Wine Advocate, RobertParker.com 15 June 2020
80% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Franc; 40% new oak. Barrel sample. More depth and intensity than sister La Chenade. Lovely, pure, almost burgundian red-fruit aromatics with cherry, raspberry notes. Palate bright and vivacious with delicious fruit and an additional floral note. Finely honed tannins, the wine overall gently poised and balanced. Should be GV. (JL) 14.5% Score: 16+ James Lawther MW, JancisRobinson.com Maturity: 2024-2034 25 May 2020

Tasting Notes

Tasted blind. Some rich fruit and real generosity. There is lots of tannin but no excessive drying sensation on the finish. GV 14.5%

Score: 17

Jancis Robinson MW, JancisRobinson.com Maturity: 2026-2040 03 February 2023

The 2019 Les Cruzelles comes across rather muted on the nose at the moment, pretty red fruit laced with truffle and black pepper. The palate is medium-bodied with a pastille-like entry, gentle grip, becoming ever spicier in the mouth with a healthy dose of white pepper and sage towards the finish. Moderate length - this is a Pomerol that grows on you. Tasted blind at the Southwold annual tasting.

Score: 92

Neal Martin, Vinous.com Maturity: 2025-2042 01 February 2023

The 2019 Les Cruzelles offers disarming aromas of blackberry and blueberry fruit, perhaps a little more discreet than some of Durantou’s other cuvées and requiring more coaxing from the glass. The palate is very well balanced with fine tannins and perfectly judged acidity, the 40% new oak neatly integrated. Fans out with confidence on the aftertaste, which turns increasingly peppery courtesy of the 20% Cabernet Franc. This is very promising.

Score: 92

Neal Martin, Vinous.com Maturity: 2023 - 2033 01 February 2022

The 2019 Les Cruzelles, the late Denis Durantou's Lalande-de-Pomerol estate, was picked between 18 and 28 September and matured in 30% new oak. It has a very really gorgeous bouquet with disarmingly pure blackberry and blueberry fruit. The oak is seamlessly integrated. The palate is medium-bodied with dark berry fruit mixed with dried orange peel and a pinch of sea salt. This has so much character and personality, the salinity on the finish lingers wonderfully.

Score: 91 - 93

Neal Martin, Vinous.com Maturity: 2023-2033 16 June 2020

Score: 91 - 93

Neal Martin, Vinous.com Maturity: 2023-2033 01 June 2020

Ripe black cherries, blueberries, iron, spring flowers, and a touch of chocolaty minerality emerge from the 2019 Château Les Cruzelles, another incredible success from Denis Durantou. Rich, medium to full-bodied, and concentrated, you should buy a case and drink bottles any time over the coming 10-15 years.

Score: 94

Jeb Dunnuck, JebDunnuck.com Maturity: 2022-2037 11 April 2022

The 2019 Les Cruzelles is another terrific success for an estate that's the reference point for what's possible in the Lalande-de-Pomerol appellation. Unwinding in the glass with aromas of sweet red berries, raw cocoa, orange rind, rose petals and loamy soil, it's medium to full-bodied, lively and concentrated, with beautifully refined tannins and a more tightly wound, structured profile than its sibling in the Durantou portfolio, La Chenade.

Score: 93

William Kelley, Wine Advocate, RobertParker.com Maturity: 2025 - 2045 07 April 2022

Blackberries and blueberries with floral and sandalwood undertones. Medium-bodied with cedar highlights and long, linear tannins. Shows energy and brightness. Try after 2024.

Score: 93

James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com Maturity: 2024+ 04 February 2022

This is smoky, spicy and meaty with blueberry character. It’s medium-bodied with a chewy texture and a tight, pronounced finish. Serious.

Score: 92 - 93

James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com 13 May 2020

The 2019 Les Cruzelles is a very serious wine. Black cherry, gravel, graphite, cloves, leather and smoke confer a real feeling of gravitas. Inky and explosive, with tremendous resonance, the Cruzelles is a winner and without question one of the stars in this range from the Durantou family.

Score: 93

Antonio Galloni, Vinous.com Maturity: 2024 - 2039 01 February 2022

The 2019 Les Cruzelles is a big wine. Black cherry, gravel, smoke, licorice and new leather blast out of the glass. Dizzyingly intense and deep, with equally potent tannins, Les Cruzelles is fabulous in 2019. It is also going to need at least a few years in bottle to come together. Harvest took place from September 18 and 25 for the Merlot and September 28 for the Franc.Denis Durantou's 2019s are absolutely brilliant across the board. My tasting was obviously bittersweet, as Durantou lost his battle with illness just a few weeks prior. Denis Durantou was one of the most intriguing characters in Bordeaux. I can't say I knew him well, but I always enjoyed tasting with him, as he was a person that spoke more with his eyes than with words. Things were implied rather than overtly stated. So, I tasted the 2019s with daughters Constance and Noémie over Zoom, in typical 2020 fashion. The Durantou sisters describe 2019 as a year with an early flowering and homogenous ripening that led to small, concentrated berries and higher pHs than normal. Temperatures were kept cool in the cellar, where both alcoholic and malolactic fermentations took place over cuvaison of 21 days (for all wines), in a reductive environment with little oxygen. From top to bottom, the Durantou 2019s are positively stellar. Don't miss them!

Score: 92 - 94

Antonio Galloni, Inside Bordeaux 01 June 2020

Lots of smoked grilled herb and black fruit notes here, this has the same reduction as La Chenade, but it's gorgeous, with an espresso edge and a ton of liquorice bud. Lots of fresh acidities, carefully placed, tiptoeing through the palate. The 2018 is a more exuberant Les Cruzelles, but this is a serious wine, with real character and life ahead. 40% new oak.

Score: 93

Jane Anson, Inside Bordeaux Maturity: 2023-2040 26 January 2022

For me this stands out above La Chenade, in the yin and yang of these two terroirs. Has more signature of the Pomerol side of Lalande, with rich coffee-tinged blackberry fruits, still with beautiful control and lift. Silky, elegant, concentrated. This is a wine that stands as a tribute to the brilliance of Denis Durantou in these smaller appellations, and is one that you will drink with emotion.

Score: 93

Jane Anson, Decanter.com Maturity: 2023-2036 14 May 2020

This wine is produced by Denis Darantou and family of Château L’Eglise-Clinet. Deep garnet-purple in color, the 2019 Les Cruzelles (a blend of 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Franc) opens with powerful black fruit scents of ripe blackberries, black cherries and mulberries with underlying floral notions of lilacs and wilted roses and hints of dark chocolate, fertile loam and mossy tree bark. The medium to full-bodied palate is chock-full of expressive, crunchy black fruits, framed by chunky tannins and just enough freshness, finishing with a peppery kick.

Score: 90 - 92

Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW, Wine Advocate, RobertParker.com 15 June 2020

80% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Franc; 40% new oak. Barrel sample. More depth and intensity than sister La Chenade. Lovely, pure, almost burgundian red-fruit aromatics with cherry, raspberry notes. Palate bright and vivacious with delicious fruit and an additional floral note. Finely honed tannins, the wine overall gently poised and balanced. Should be GV. (JL) 14.5%

Score: 16+

James Lawther MW, JancisRobinson.com Maturity: 2024-2034 25 May 2020

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