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Alter Ego de Palmer Carillon d’Angelus Carruades de Lafite Château Angélus Château Ausone Château Belgrave Château Calon-Ségur Château Cantemerle Château Cantenac Brown Château Climens Château Clinet Château Cos Labory Château Cos d’Estournel Château Coutet Château de Camensac Château de Ferrand Château de Fieuzal Château d’Yquem Château Ducru Beaucaillou Château-Figeac Château Fleur Cardinale Château Fombrauge Château Giscours Château Grand-Puy-Lacoste Château Gruaud-Larose Château Haut Bages Libéral Château Haut Batailley Château Haut-Brion Château Haut-Marbuzet Château Kirwan Château La Fleur Petrus Château Lagrange Château La Gurgue Château La Mission Haut Brion Château Lafite Rothschild Château Lanessan Château Langoa Barton Château Larrivet Haut Brion Château Latour Château La Tour Carnet Château Latour Martillac Château Léoville Las Cases Château Léoville Barton Château Léoville-Poyferré Château L'Evangile Château Les Grands Chênes Château Lynch-Bages Château Malescasse Château Margaux Château Marquis d’Alesme Château Maucaillou Château Monbousquet Château Montrose Château Mouton Rothschild Château Palmer Château Pape Clément Château Pavie Château Pédesclaux Château Pétrus Château Phélan Ségur Château Pichon-Longueville Baron Château Pichon-Longueville Comtesse de Lalande Château Pontet-Canet Château Pouget Château Poujeaux Château Rauzan-Ségla Château Rieussec Château Sigalas-Rabaud Château Taillefer Château Talbot Cheval Blanc Echo Lynch Bages Le Petit Mouton Marquis de Calon Pagodes de Cos Petit Haut Lafitte Vieux Château Certan
Producers
Château Cantemerle
Like many Bordeaux fine wines, Chateau Cantemerle’s story is a tale of two halves. Pre-19th century phylloxera crisis and the wine was doing splendidly. It had documentation to support its claim of being one of the oldest fine wine producers in France. It was one of only two changes to be allowed on the famous 1855 classification (having been left off in the original classification, the estate was added to the list shortly after publication after some vociferous complaints by the then-owner). Production was between 150-160 barrels annually. Awards were being won in Paris. It had vines planted on the best slopes of Macau, the terroir was rich, deep and gravelly, and the product could not have been any better. Suffice to say, pre-1860, things were looking good for Cantemerle.
Phylloxera and the sale of the century
Now comes the second half of the estate’s story. The worst hit left bank chateaux to be affected by the crisis in the 1860s, Cantermerle’s woes began with the dramatic phylloxera bug that all but wiped it out. After overcoming the attack of the deadly insect, production was decreased by a further 50% following a mildew attack on the remaining plants. By 1892 the estate was bankrupt and the Villeneuve-Durfort family, who had owned the estate since 1579, were forced to sell. The new owner, Theophile-Jean Dubois, kept painstaking records of the weather and this, along with Dubois’ great savoir faire of Bordeaux fine wines, was the beginning of Cantemerle 2.0.
Cantemerle and the 20th-century
However, family squabbles, complicated inheritance tax, two-world wars and general mis-management meant that by the late 20th-century Chateau Cantemerle has fallen into a state of ruin. The estate was still harvesting from the 49-hectares it had left, yet over half of these needed replanting. Help arrived in 1981 in the form of the French insurance giants SMABTP. The group purchased the estate for 25 million francs (almost €4,000,000), but spent a further €10,000,000 on restoration. This included replanting, new harvesting equipment and new oak aging barrels.
Cantemerle Today
Today the estate owns 190-hectares, of which 90 are planted with vines. These average around 30-years. The blend, although varies, is typically a combination of 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Franc and 5% Petit Verdot. Annual production is around 25,000 cases of its fine wine, while its second wine, Les Allees de Cantemerle averages around 12,500 cases. Little market data is available for pre-SMABTP wines, the earliest on the current market (Q1 2020) being an Imperial (6-litre) from 1996. Selling price for this is €640 (€65 a bottle), compared to €26 for the 2018 offering. Investors should note that aggregate scoring is consistently in the 90/100 range.
Notable facts and vintages
  • The estate produces two wines: Age-worthy Chateau Cantemerle, and second wine Les Allees de Cantemerle for more immediate drinking pleasure. James Suckling awarded the former a barrel score of 94-95 for the 2018 vintage.
  • In 1884, when mildew totally disrupted the hierarchy of the Great Growths, Cantemerle was one of two Fifth Growths (along with Dauzac) to fetch prices higher than Lafite.
  • Curiously, in the five year period from 2015 wine-searcher recorded a total of 77 searches originating from North Korea (where internet access is restricted to only the most trusted elite) Chateau Cantemerle is considered among their “wines of note”.