Le Petit Soutard 2012
Le Petit Soutard is the second wine of Château Soutard, Grand Cru Classé of Saint Emilion. Stylistics of 2012 Le Petit Soutard by now gives modern drinking with even more purity of fruit, precision, finesse and elegance. While the nose this wine is still woody, the red and black fruit is expressive and merges well with the chocolate tones. On palate, the dark fruit (cherries) is very delicate and ample, with tones of leather, licorice, spices, and a touch of earthiness and mineral. This gives a lot of taste and nose for a wine at this level. Structure is great. Alcohol level is just fine. A refreshing, medium finish.
In Vivino, 5 tasters out of 49 voted Le Petit de Soutard 2012 Five-Star and 26 Tasters Four-Star(5 July 2017)
Our first encounter with the First Wine in 1997(Soutard 1993, St Emilion Grand Cru Classe). That bottle from Soutard was one of the most powerful and chucky St Emilion Grand Cru Classe. Soutard's merging with Chateau Cadet Piola in 2009 forms a single piece of 60 HA land as well. Its purchase by the same group holding Chateau Lamamde(St Emilion GCC) would mean that wine making expertise can be shared within the group and there is now great economy of scale, and hence the stylistic difference. Showing even more value, really Le Petit Soutard 2012 is one fine example to illustrate that stylistic change and the high cost performance.
The vines are on average, 35 years of age. The vineyard is planted to a vine density of 6,500 vines per hectare. The wine is vinified in gleaming, new, stainless steel vats of various sizes. The wine is aged in an average of 60% new, French oak barrels for 18 months. Composition is 80% de Merlot, 15% de Cabernet Franc, 5% de Cabernet Sauvignon. ABV is 13.5%. Farming is Bio-dynamic.
Score for first wine is decent, such as RP90.