Chateau Ripeau

Towards the end of 18^th century Chateau Ripeau belonged to Guillaume Ignace de Bouchereau, a big landowner of the time. Afterwards, it came into the hands of Denis and Eugene Buhler, two famous landscape gardeners who designed many French style parks.

In 1917 it was purchased by the de Wilde family and later Marcel Loubat, a wine trader and mayor of Libourne, acquired it, before giving to his granddaughter Suzanne in 1943.

Suzanne’s husband Michel worked hard on the quality and got it elevated to the Grand Cru Classe status in 1955. In 1976 they passed the property to their two children, Jean and Francoise de Wilde.

I have recently tasted the 2006 vintage and below is my tasting note:

Appearance

Bright and clear, it has deep ruby color, with garnet rims and legs.

Nose

Clean, with medium intensity aromas showing black fruit of blackberry, ripe dark cherries and plum, maturity notes of savory and wet leaves, oak notes of cedar, kernel notes of chocolate, sweet spice of cloves, vegetable notes of black beans. The wine is developing.

Palate

Dry with medium acidity, this wine has medium (+) tannin which is ripe, but quite powdery in texture. Medium in alcohol, the wine is of medium body, with medium (-) intensity flavors of black fruit such as blackberry, dark cherries and plum, oak notes of cedar, sweet spice of nutmeg. The wine has a medium finish.

Conclusion

Good quality St-Emilion with a reasonably concentrated nose showing good complexity, the wine has a good structure on the palate, but the tannin is a bit too powdery for my liking and the flavors are also a bit weak on intensity. The wine has a reasonable length on the finish, and is ready to drink now but can further develop for another 1-2 years.