In 2024, Château Fleur Cardinale and Château Croix Cardinale were brought together under the name La Maison Cardinale

Château Fleur Cardinale 2013 - Château Fleur Cardinale
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Château Fleur Cardinale 2013

Patience & Sincerity

Un verre de Château Fleur Cardinale - © M. Johnson

Identity

Blend:

  • 65% Merlot
  • 25% Cabernet Franc
  • 10% Cabernet Sauvignon

Alcoholic degree: 13°

La vigne - © C. Decoster, Château Fleur Cardinale

Weather conditions

The rainy and wet start of the year disrupted flowering and led to a significant yield reduction.

Then, a normal summer cleaned up the situation.

The harvest took place under difficult weather conditions, requiring a meticulous precision and selection.

Le temps des vendanges - © J. Buchholtz

Harvest

  • 15 > 23 October 2013
  • Yieds: 17 hl / ha
  • Production: 32 800 bottles
Ludovic carafant une bouteille de Château Fleur Cardinale - © M. Johnson

Tasting suggestion

  • Optimal tasting period: 2017 – 2025.
  • Today: place the wine two hours in a carafe before the tasting, or keep it in the cellar.
  • Serving temperature : 17-18°C.
Une bouteille de Fleur Cardinale 2015 - © C. Decoster, Château Fleur Cardinale

Personality characteristics

The 2013 vintage is synonymous of:

  • Patience
  • Sincerity
  • Attention
  • Reason
Vin et musique - © C. Decoster, Château Fleur Cardinale

Soundtrack

Reviews for this vintage

ANDREAS LARSSON

91
Nice nose of mineral, wild berries, plum and blackberry with fine oak and spices. Good density of fruit, young but ripe tannin, fresh acidity, nice wild fruit, good length and harmony, rather burgundy like texture. April 2014

90
Medium intense, ruby-red colour, still with a hint of purple-blue. Fine nose, starts out quite discreetly but I think it has a very nice oakiness. I mean nicely integrated I would say. There are just some fine hints of roasted coffee bean with vanilla. More of a fruity expression with wild berry fruit, dark plum, mild spices with pepper and vanilla. Still appearing quite fresh with a notion of minerality. Opening up slowly. Good bite on the palate. Quite concentrated there with plenty of weight. It is still youthful with a lot of extract. In terms of tannin, I think they are already nicely rounded. About to integrate now and in the coming year. Quite delicious fruit there. Fairly high ripeness, with elegant, rather on the dark fruity side, with cassis. Aromatic herbs as well, but ripe herbs like a hint of sage, mint, dark plum. The oak feels integrated on the palate as well. It does have a very long finish. It keeps lingering with that fresh mineralic bite on the finish. Elegant fruit. Fine potential here. Certainly a wine that should go on for quite some time. In the coming one to two years, it should already be open and fairly drinkable. February 2016

B MY BORDEAUX, CHRISTER BYKLUM

84-86
Deep ruby. Rich, sweet, fruity and intense nose. Fresh acidity, ripe tannins, fruity, rich and rounded, bit one dimensional and short. Avril 2014

BETTANE & DESSEAUVE

16
Excellents 2012 & 2013, parmi les plus complets de leur catégorie, et qui évidemment rendent le dégustateur plus exigeant vis-à-vis d’autres crus. Guide Bettane & Desseauve 2016

16
Belle cohérence en bouche, plénitude pour le millésime avec un excellent soutien tannique et une finale précise et montante. 2021-2025

DECANTER, JAMES LAWTHER

16
Deep, dark colour. Dark fruit and chocolate notes. Touch more extraction. Slightly drying finish but the fruit there. Drink 2017-2025. April 2014

FALSTAFF

89
Tiefdunkles Rubingranat, schwarzer Kern, violette Reflexe, reife Pflaumen, feines Brombeerkonfit, ein Hauch von Feigen, zart nach Orangenzesten. Mittlerer Körper, rotbeerig und frisch, gut integrierte Tannine, rotbeeriger Nachhall, ein trinkanimierender Speisenbegleiter mit mineralischem Nachhall. April 2014

GAULT & MILLAU

16
L’un des derniers à avoir vendangé dans l’appellation. Les arômes au nez restent discrets, sur la minéralité et le petit fruit noir croquant. La chair enveloppe les tanins fins pour conserver l’élégance et la persistance du vin.

JACQUES PERRIN

89-91
Dans la catégorie Très Bons Vins

JAMES SUCKLING

89-90
Attractive cool berry character with chalk undertones. Medium to full body, firm tannins and a silky-textured finish. April 2014

91
Blueberry, blackberry and wet earth. Some dried flowers. Full to medium body, firm and chewy tannins yet polished and fresh. Refined polish to this. Drink in 2018. February 2016

JANCIS ROBINSON, RICHARD HEMMING

15,5
Juicy black cherry, a nice bit of liquorice, and then very furry tannins that don’t really belong in this structure. Peppery spice to finish. Will these tannins ever fully resolve? April 2014

JEAN-MARC QUARIN

15
Vin moelleux et fruité assez plein pour l’année. Corps et longueur moyens. 2016-2025. Avril 2014

JOURNAL D'UN PASSIONNÉ DE LA RIVE DROITE, DANIEL SÉRIOT

89-91
Nez élégant et expressif de fruits mûrs. La bouche offre un avenant velouté de texture, avec des tanins enrobés par une chair délicate, le centre est bien constitué et fruité. La finale aux tannins un peu plus fermes est alerte et fruitée. Avril 2014

LA REVUE DU VIN DE FRANCE, ANTOINE GERBELLE

15-15,5
Jus acidulé, dense, prune et mûre, une très belle sélection qui sort du lot par son soyeux, la précision de la signature épicée, sa « rétro » sur la framboise. Un style proche mais distinct par son fruit intense de son voisin Valandraud. Avril 2014

LA REVUE DU VIN DE FRANCE, PIERRE CITERNE

15,5
Subtil en robe et en arômes, pointu mais bien garni en milieu de bouche, Fleur Cardinale témoigne d’une bonne adaptation aux spécificités de l’année sur un terroir particulièrement tardif.

LE FIGARO VINS, BERNARD BURTSCHY

16
Une belle matière qui se moque du millésime. Un vin plein, de belle longueur, superbement réussi. Avril 2014

MARKUS DEL MONEGO, MW

91
Dark purple red with violet hue. Aromatic nose reminiscent of mulberries, elderberries and blackberries. Hints of elegant toasting, vanilla and darkchocolate in the background. On the palate, fullbodied and well structured with good length, rather juicy fruit and firm but ripe tannins. January 2016

TERRE DE VINS, MATHIEU DOUMENGE

Pour Florence Decoster, du château Fleur Cardinale, “ceux qui viennent à ces Primeurs avec des a priori repartent assez agréablement surpris. Dans les châteaux qui ont bien travaillé, 2013 est un millésime réussi, avec un joli fruit, de la longueur. C’est à nous de faire un travail d’explication pour renverser les idées reçues, et pour dialoguer avec les acheteurs, les négociants, afin de donner toutes ces chances à ce millésime. En tout cas pour moi, il est équivalent à 2007, voire meilleur, et il reste dans tous les cas fidèle au style et à la qualité que nous voulons donner à nos vins”. Fleur Cardinale devrait une fois de plus faire partie des belles réussites de ce millésime. Avril 2014

THE WINE ADVOCATE, NEAL MARTIN

89-91
April 2014It has a pleasant bouquet with ripe blackberry and cassis notes, perhaps just a touch of alcohol giving it lift. The palate is medium-bodied with grainy tannins. There is good weight here and decent tension on the finish, though it cuts away a little quickly.

THE WINE ADVOCATE, ROBERT PARKER

89-91
August 2014The wine, a final blend of 80% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Franc and the rest Cabernet Sauvignon, produced just over 4,000 cases, which is almost half the winery’s normal production. Their brilliant duo of consultants was Jean-Luc Thunevin and Michel Rolland’s assistant Jean-Philippe Fort. Natural alcohol comes in at 13.5% and the wine is soft, round, opulent and elegant with sweet blackcurrant and black raspberry fruit, a hint of cherries, dusty, loamy soil undertones, tobacco leaf, licorice and a touch of background oak. It is medium-bodied, very attractive and can be drunk early on or cellared for 7-10 years. This is, once again, a sleeper of the vintage. This has been one of the outstanding buys in all of Bordeaux for well over a decade. The Decoster family has done a remarkable job in consistently producing some of the most enjoyable as well as complex and delicious wines of St. Emilion.

THE WINE CELLAR INSIDER, JEFF LEVE

92
Deep garnet in color with licorice, coffee bean, flowers, stone and spicy, plum scents the wine offers a supple, plush, polished and sweet finish brimming with boysenberry, fresh cherry, spice and cocoa. April 2014

THE WINE DOCTOR, CHRIS KISSACK

14,5-15,5
This wine has some concentrated fruit-skin character on the nose, exotic fruits, plum skins, perfumed with a little wild flower and honeycomb, which probably come from the oak. The palate is very broad, very rich in keeping with the style here, with dark perfumed fruits, plenty of spicy tannin and acid behind, and overall it seems rather convincing. Big, tannin-tinged finish, and there is eve,n a little length here. For the vintage, this has real promise. April 2014

THE WINE PATRIOT, ANTOON LAURENT

90
Fraise cuite, cassis, menthol, notes de torréfaction ; bouche grasse, finale gourmande.

VINOUS, ANTONIO GALLONI

89-92
The 2013 Fleur Cardinale is a huge wine. Blood orange, pomegranate, white pepper and bright red cherries all explode from the glass. Unapologetically rich and intense, the 2013 is beautifully layered and voluptuous to the core. All the elements fall into place effortlessly. The 2013 has been impressive on all three occasions I have tasted it so far. April 2014

VINUM

14,5
Viel zu viel Eiche, etwas robustes, trockenes Finale. Juin 2016

WINE SPECTATOR, JAMES MOLESWORTH

88-91
April 2014Quite solid, with a core of plum and boysenberry fruit studded with anise and roasted apple wood notes. This has a nice muscular feel, particularly for the vintage.

90
March 2016Stylish and ripe, with flattering raspberry and plum sauce flavors that glide along, enhanced by lively licorice and fruitcake notes. A touch of bramble adds length to the finish. Best from 2017 through 2023. Tasted twice, with consistent notes.

YVES BECK

88
Rouge rubis violacé clair. Bouquet rafraîchissant et fruité. Agréables notes de framboises et de réglisse. Attaque juteuse et élégante. Le corps est équilibré, juteux et doté de tannins bien intégrés. On a procédé à des choix très judicieux, en acceptant les aléas de la nature. Il en résulte un vin honnête, digeste et prêt à être savouré. Bravo. Maintenant – 2020.

86
Pourpre moyen. Bouquet expressif, révélant pas mal de notes boisées, même trop. En bouche, le vin est friand et le boisé soutenu également. De caractère légèrement crémeux, le vin est porté par sa structure et par des tannins bien intégrés. Un vin séduisant. Maintenant – 2021. Décembre 2015

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