2008 Château Potensac, Médoc, Bordeaux

Tasted blind. Dark crimson. Well-integrated nose. It's stony and a bit austere but very fresh. Just a little scrawny. But classic.

Drink 2020 - 2032

Mulberry fruits and gentle autumn hedgerow aromas develop on the palate to become more about the branches than the fruit. Once it settles in, this has a lovely texture and weight, with good freshness and soft tannins, but the fruit is less luscious than you might like. It is ready to drink but needs some food to soften it out.

Drink 2018 - 2025

42% Merlot, 40% Cabernet Sauvignon and 18% Cabernet Franc; 8.7% press wine added; 13.2 % alcohol; 30% new oak. 

Deep ruby-violet. Explosive aromas of violet, ripe red cherry and spicy blackcurrant. Less massive on the palate than the nose would suggest, offering rich and attractive black cherry and blackberry syrup flavours and excellent balance. The long finish features youthfully tight tannins that should resolve nicely with time.

The 2008 Potensac has an attractive bouquet with blackberry, briary and cedar aromas that gently waft from the glass, the oak here nicely integrated. The palate is medium-bodied with firm, grainy tannin. This comes across a little savoury in style, with hints of dried blood infusing the black fruit towards the slightly dry but still balanced finish. Fine. Tasted blind at Farr Vintners’ 10-Year On tasting.

Drink 2018 - 2026

Perhaps the finest Potensac made since the 1982, the 2008 is undoubtedly a sleeper of the vintage. Harvested between October 4-16, this blend of 42% Merlot, 40% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 18% Cabernet Franc was fashioned from modest yields of 44 hectoliters per hectare. 

While lacking the prestige of a grand cru classe, it offers an amazing display of sweet black cherry and cassis fruit intermixed with notions of earth and spice. Good purity, a medium to full-bodied mouthfeel, a seamless balance, ripe tannins, and fresh acids result in an amazing wine that should sell for a song. It should evolve for a decade or more.

Racy and refined with super polished tannins and a mineral and berry character, Full and dense with a well-integrated mouth feel. All there. Give it two years.