Château d’Armailhac history has its roots in the past because as early as 1680 those lands, in the Bordeaux region, were owned by the brothers Dominique and Guilhem Armailhacq, as reported by a municipal register of the same period. Also, from official sources we know that the descendants began to plant vines in the family estate from 1750. Curiously, the first wines produced were of poor in quality and so the family reared a lot, both in the vineyard and in the cellar, to make it grow, to the point that, as it is known, in the historical classification of 1855 the wine was rated Cinquième Cru Classé. The winery, passed to the Ferrand family in 1843, found its definitive layout in 1934, with its acquisition by Baron Philippe de Rothschild.
Today the estate covers 70 hectares, in the northern area of Pauillac, on gravelly soils, with a subsoil of clayey-calcareous matrix, high density planted (8500 vines per hectare) with Cabernet Sauvignon (52%), Merlot (36%), Cabernet Franc (10%) and Petit Verdot (2%). The wine comes from grapes harvested manually in small wooden boxes of 15 kilograms, selected twice in the cellar: by hand and, subsequently, by means of optical sorters that measure the density, the color intensity and the grape diameter. In the vinification room 23 vats house the masses, which are differentiated by grape variety and by parcel; then the wine obtained ages 18 months in the barrel cellar in new barriques (a third), first (a third) and second passage (a third) with decants every three months, before clarification (with 4/6 egg whites per barrel) and bottling.
The 2010 vintage, already when it was placed on the market, had aroused particular interest: less hot than the excellent 2009 had given rise to less immediate but decidedly finer wines. The alcohol content is 13.5 ABV, with a color still rather dark, inked, without any sign of failure, and with a discreet softness. The rather articulate scent is dominated by notes of cooked plum, durone cherry, graphite and dehydrated violet, enriched by blueberry cake, dried fruit, black coffee and licorice root, with concluding echoes of goudron, vinyl, dark tobacco and cabinetry. The palate has not lost its power nor softness, with a generous yet refined tannin that slims the sip, along with a note of freshness halfway between the acid and balsamic that develops at the center of the palate, combined with the olfactory returns of fruit and spices (durone cherry and graphite mainly) from now on in the center of the scene until a long closing in which there is space for an initial hint of blood note.
Rating: 93/100
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