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Floral, lifted Saint-Émilion with red cherry, plum, crushed strawberry and blackcurrant, touched with orange peel, tea leaf, white pepper and vanilla. Fresh and supple, with velvety, fine-grained tannins and a salty, chalky finish.
Available in store
Close65% Merlot, 30% Cabernet Franc, 5% Cabernet Sauvignon
Food pairings: Matured meats, ribeye, lamb, duck, ribs, spiced dishes, roasted vegetables, mushroom dishes and risotto, and cheese.
Winemaking: The 2022 was picked entirely by hand into small crates on September 12, 29 and 30, sorted in the vineyard, destemmed and sorted again by density. After a cold pre-fermentation maceration, it fermented in temperature-controlled stainless-steel vats with gentle R'Pulse and gravity pump-overs, with a few lots micro-vinified in 500-liter barrels, for about 20 days on the skins. It was then aged for 12 to 14 months: 70% in new French oak barrels, 26% in once-used barrels and 4% in 750-liter terracotta amphorae.
Vineyards and terroir: Croix Cardinale lies in Saint-Étienne-de-Lisse, on the clay-limestone plateau at the eastern edge of the Saint-Émilion appellation. Up to this vintage the wine came mainly from parcels on the north-facing slopes beside the family's Château Fleur Cardinale, with vines averaging about 33 years. The vineyard is grassed over between the rows, sown with winter cover crops and worked by hand for de-budding and leaf thinning, and 2022 was its second year in conversion to organic farming. From 2023, Croix Cardinale moved to the family's south-facing limestone slopes, planted mostly to Cabernet.
Family and history: After several decades in porcelain in Limoges, Dominique and Florence Decoster came to wine in 2001 by buying Château Fleur Cardinale, which quickly rose to Saint-Émilion Grand Cru Classé. They added the neighbouring Château Croix Cardinale in 2011 and brought its cellar up to the same standard. Their son Ludovic and his wife Caroline now run the family's estates as La Maison Cardinale, with technical director Ludivine Chagnon.
In the pictures: Vineyards around the ruined Chapelle Saint-Fort in Saint-Étienne-de-Lisse (photo: William Ellison, 2017, CC BY-SA 4.0), and the church of Saint-Étienne in Saint-Étienne-de-Lisse, with vines in the foreground (photo: William Ellison, 2014, CC BY-SA 4.0).
