2022 Rol Valentin
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Tasting notes
A blend of 85% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc and 5% Merlot, the 2022 Rol Valentin offers up aromas of lilac, dark berries, cassis and mulberries mingled with delicate notes of licorice and pencil lead. Medium to full-bodied, layered and enveloping, it's rich and deep with a fleshy core of fruit and structured tannins that segue into a gently assertive tannic frame. It concludes with an oaky, spicy bouquet yet is notably less oaky than previous vintages, reflecting a refined approach to its barrel integration and extraction process. Matured for 19 months in 40% new and 60% one-year-old barrels.
Critic scores
Average Score
James Suckling
Julia Harding MW, jancisrobinson.com
More reviews and scores
Deeper ruby-hued, the 2022 Château Rol Valentin checks in as 85% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc, and the balance Malbec, all of which spent 19 months in 40% new barrels. It's rock-solid stuff offering terrific notes of darker cherries, plums, spicy wood, and candied violet notes in a richer, medium to full-bodied, concentrated style. Made in a slightly more modern, well-oaked style, it's still pure Saint-Emilion goodness with notable minerality and ample character. Give bottles 4-5 years if you can and enjoy over the following 10-15 years.
The 2022 Rol Valentin was difficult to assess in barrel, but now in bottle, the aromatics are well defined with pure brambly red fruit, blackcurrant scents and well-integrated oak. The palate is ripe on the entry with chewy tannins. It loses some focus toward the finish, which is a bit more monochromatic than I would have liked, especially given the nose.
They have done a good job of injecting plenty of personality here, delivering sweet liquorice and mandarin peel flavour alongside bright redcurrant and raspberry fruits, clear spice, pumped up but with a foot on the brake. 90% new oak, 400l barrels and 10% in cement eggs, 7.14ha of old sand and clay limestone soils.