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 (May 16, 2013)
Review by Stephen Tanzer
Rating: (95)
VIEW(Right Bank blend based on 90% merlot): Dark medium ruby. Cooler on the nose than the Proprietary Red, offering sexy scents of blackberry, violet, licorice and leather. Then more opulent and open-knit on the palate, but with outstanding structure for a merlot-based wine. This utterly seamless example delivers insidious sweetness of fruit complicated by ineffable notes of wild herbs, licorice and spices. Very classy and long on the aftertaste, with
wonderfully refined tannins. A great California merlot. 95 points(Winemaker Denis Malbec, who literally grew up at Chateau Latour, also makes the great merlot-based Roberta Reserve at Kapcsandy, which means that he is responsible for California’s two greatest merlots, in the opinion of
this taster.) -
Wine Advocate # 204 (Dec. 2012)
Review by Antonio Galloni
Rating: (96+)
VIEWThe 2010 Rive Droite Paradise Hills Vineyard is endowed with serious richness and depth, all backed up by an equally serious core of pure, saline-infused minerality. The Rive Droite is far from an easygoing Merlot-based wine, rather it is endowed with tons of structure and pure power. Today, the 2010 is incredibly young. I don’t see it giving much pleasure before the age of ten, but its balance is beyond impeccable. This is a dazzling effort that stands out for its pure energy. The 2010 is 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc, with a drop of Petit Verdot.
Anticipated maturity: 2020-2030.Claude and Katherine Blankiet have spared no expense in their goal to make world-class wines, and it shows in these magnificent new releases. One of the biggest changes at Blankiet over the last few years has been the creation of a second wine, Prince of Hearts, first released with the 2008 vintage. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that the creation of a second label is one of the main reasons quality has been so exceptional here, especially in the last few years, none of which has been easy. Prince of Hearts, with its production between 600-1,000 cases, is all or mostly juice that used to end up in the Rive Droite and Proprietary Red. Readers who want to learn more about Blankiet might like to take a look at my videos of the 2011 and 2012 harvests.
Drink 2020 – 2030
