2009 Chateau Fleur Cardinale Saint-Emilion 750 ml

A Little Payback from St. Émilion — Perfect Vintage. Perfect Provenance.

On April 10, 2015, we published a story about the Decoster family’s stunning 2012 Château Fleur Cardinale, a wine Robert Parker rated 93 points, calling it the “sleeper of the vintage.” That offer got off to a jackrabbit start. By the time the dust settled, our entire allocation had been depleted. Total sales were nearly $100,000.

Word of the sale spread quickly to the Place de Bordeaux. One large and very experienced trader told us that WineAccess “a battu le record” — broke the record. To his knowledge, only on the futures market had any single buyer sold so many cases of Fleur Cardinale in a 24-hour period.

Hmmm, we thought. Maybe it was time to request a little payback from St. Émilion?

As you may recall, it was on the eve of the en primeur tasting of 2009s in Bordeaux that Professor Denis Dubourdieu took the microphone in front of an audience of 400 wine professionals. Dubourdieu, at the time the faculty president of the University of Bordeaux’s school of enology, defined the five conditions that make for a “perfect” vintage in Bordeaux.

First, flowering must come early. Second, the set must be healthy and regular. Third, veraison (when grapes change from green to red) must occur early as well, in late July. Fourth, Cabernet must reach optimal maturity, usually helped along by a few showers in August and September. Last, October must be sunny and dry, extending the growing season in the days before harvest, pushing the envelope on physiological maturity.

Dubourdieu’s conclusion: The 2009 growing season had gone 5 for 5!

The 2009 Château Fleur Cardinale is the richest, most voluptuous wine ever to come off the Decoster family’s 25-hectare St. Émilion stronghold. However, Dubourdieu’s perfect growing season was more extraordinary for quality than quantity. Yields were some of the smallest on record — just 30 hectoliters per hectare. As a result, concentration was extreme, with finished alcohol measuring a Napa-like 14.5%.

94 points from Parker, who argues that this powerhouse 2009 won’t hit its peak until sometime in 2030! 240 bottles of the 2009 Fleur Cardinale have been earmarked for the WineAccess membership, each drawn directly from the cellar where the wine was bottled in 2011. $80/bottle — Summer Cold-Pack Shipping right to your door — after a bit of gentle prodding in St. Émilion.