Owner Patrick Léon, whose family took over this 15-hectare property in 1995, is a well-traveled winemaker who has done stints at Château Mouton-Rothschild; Almaviva in Chile; and Opus One in the Napa Valley. Lamoliere is part of the Château Les Trois Croix, which is one of the oldest properties in Fronsac (the keystone over the cellar door is dated 1712).

The Fronsac AOC may be one of the most underrated terroirs in all of Bordeaux. Located just west of Saint-Émilion and Pomerol, in beautiful rolling hills north of the Dordogne River, Fronsac sits at a slightly higher elevation and has even more limestone in its soil than Saint-Émilion’s famed plateau (along with a good percentage of clay, which favors the Merlot grape over Cabernet Sauvignon).

Sourced from vines with an average age of 40 years, this bottling combines 86% Merlot with 14% Cabernet Franc, and it shares many personality traits with the wines of nearby Pomerol, which is famous for its dark-hued Merlots. Fermentation is carried out over the course of three weeks, after which the finished wine is transferred to used French oak barrels for 12 months.

The Merlot-Cabernet Franc pairing is interesting in that Merlot is typically juicy/fruit and Cabernet Franc more savory and redolent of pyrazines, the compounds that lend notes of green bell pepper. The Merlot component is more readily recognizable in this wine, which has a deep, inky core of plummy fruit and silky tannins. Accent notes of damp violets and a hint of warm spice complete the picture.