Our true Bordeaux Right Bank wine. Merlot with a touch of Cabernet Franc. This wine is gorgeously fruit forward with a core of minerality.
Review
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Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar
Review by Stephen Tanzer
Rating: (93)
VIEW69% merlot, 23% cabernet franc, 7% petit verdot and 1% cabernet sauvignon): Good deep ruby-red. Sexy aromas of plum, bitter chocolate, violet and licorice pastille: very Right Bank. Then smooth and sweet in the mouth, with lovely restrained sweetness to its black raspberry and licorice flavors. A floral component contributes energy and inner-mouth aromatic lift. Quite plush on the back end, finishing with broad tannins and lovely perfume. A very successful blend with great early appeal: I’d enjoy this over the next seven or eight years before starting on the Proprietary wine, which should surpass it in the long run.
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Wine Advocate # 192 (Dec. 2010)
Review by Robert Parker
Rating: (94)
VIEWThe 2008 Rive Droite Proprietary Red (68.5% Merlot, 23% Cabernet Franc, 7.5% Petit Verdot and 1% Cabernet Sauvignon; 320 cases produced) offers soaring, complex aromas of barbecue smoke, juicy black currants, chocolate-infused black cherries, mocha, camphor and incense are intense as well as persuasive. This opulent, full-bodied wine possesses good density and abundant complexity. It comes close in quality to the brilliant 2007. The precocious 2008 should continue to offer provocative drinking over the next 12-15 years.
Claude and Katherine Blankiet continue to make subtle changes in their winemaking at Blankiet Estate. Michel Rolland has been replaced by Denis Malbec, but superstar viticulturist David Abreu still manages this gorgeous hillside vineyard in the foothills of the Mayacamas Mountains, just behind the large estate of Dominus. The 2008s have improved dramatically since last year, which may be the result of the culling out of certain lots for their second wine called Prince of Hearts. The 2007s essentially performed as well as they did last year, and it appears to be the greatest vintage yet produced at Blankiet.
