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Wine Description
The Story
Indeed famous people had appreciated it: the wine was served at the marriage of Eleanor of Aquitaine and Henry Plantagenêt; it was also the favorite wine of Emperor Franz Joseph. The motto of the estate "Regum mensis aris that deorum" means “for the table of kings and the altar of the gods”.
The family Cruse, who has been established in the Médoc for 150 years, now owns the castle. The château d'Issan is made of 120 hectares, of which 50 are dedicated to the culture of the vines. The grapes used to produce the great wine of the château (ranked third in 1855’s classification) and the second wine, Blason d'Issan, are the cabernet sauvignon and the merlot. The use of these varieties allows the château d'Issan to propose typical wines of Margaux with the strength of a Pauillac.
Vintage 1996
1996 presents itself as a “classic” Bordeaux year, although – as Jancis Robinson MW wrote – not in the “lean” sense; Although Farr Vintners director Tom Hudson told the drinks industry it may have been a "very good" rather than "really great" year as it was not uniformly excellent across the region .
As a reminder, 1996 was a particularly promising vintage for Médoc wines. The Berry Bros & Rudd website boasts: “This is one of the great post-war vintages for Médoc Cabernet wines. These are rich, complex and beautifully balanced wines, full of ripe, pure fruit and with the structure that will allow the best wines to age over the next decade and beyond.
The Right Bank, on the other hand, is described as “distinguished” but “overshadowed” by the 95s – which was a particularly good vintage for Saint Emilion and Pomerol.
It was also an excellent vintage for white Bordeaux.
Robert Parker's scores tend to favor the Left Bank, although some of the best Right Bank wines have also received very respectable reviews.
Only two wines received 100 points: Lafite and Latour, Margaux was ranked 99, Léoville Las Cases 98, Ducru Beaucaillou 96 and Pichon-Comtesse 96.
La Mondotte was the highest rated right bank wine with 97 points, Ausone was the second highest rated with 93, as was L'Eglise Clinet, while Gomerie, Petrus and Le Pin settled for 92 and Cheval Blanc 90 .
With almost 20 years, the wines have naturally appreciated and now that they are well within their drinking window, demand will almost certainly start to push prices even higher for the most in demand among them.
The figures are often impressive, to date Lafite has seen an increase of 657.9% since its release, its second wine Carruades is up 592%, Latour is up 437%, Petrus is up 400% and Pichon Baron is up 240%. %.