2019 Dalem
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Tasting notes
Readers looking for a smoking deal in the vintage should grab bottles of the 2019 Château Dalem. This rich, medium to full-bodied, mouth-filling effort has lots of ripe darker cherry and blackberry fruit as well as tobacco, cedar pencil, and violet nuances. Rich, textured, balanced, and with a real sense of purity and class, it's ideal for enjoying over the coming 10-12, if not 15 years or so.
Critic scores
Average Score
James Suckling
Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW, Wine Advocate
More reviews and scores
The 2019 Dalem offers almost Burgundian purity on the nose, where blackberry, bilberry, crushed stone and pressed iris petal commingle. The palate is beautifully proportioned and quite saline, with fine tannins and an almost pixelated finish, which delivers superb grip and density. This is an outstanding Fronsac that will live long in the bottle. Excellent.
The 2019 Dalem is quite attractive, if a bit understated in this vintage. Crushed flowers, sweet red cherry fruit, cedar, tobacco and mint open nicely in the glass. Dalem was far more flamboyant en primeur. It is still a pretty wine, but less opulent than it was back then. Red cherry jam, raspberry and mocha linger. In 2019, Dalem is not as exuberant as it can be, but that is not exactly a problem, as it is still a pretty heady wine.