I return to my tastings on my trip to Paris in November and this post focuses on wines we enjoyed from Domaine Roses Camille. I have posted often about wines from DRC, including my most recent post on DRC wines. My post here, tells of the story of DRC and this one tells of a lovely gathering I was invited to with DRC wines.

The day before the Royal wine tasting, in November, Avi Davidowitz, from the Kosher Wine Unfiltered blog, and I jumped in a cab and made our way to the center of Paris to meet with Christophe Bardeau, the winemaker of Domaine Roses Camille. To be 100% transparent, I had already tasted these wines, and as I will post in my notes, this will be the 3rd tasting of some of these, but I was waiting until I tasted them in Paris to post. I have been seeing a fair amount of travel issues with some wines from outside of the USA, recently, as such, I wanted to be sure of my notes before I posted them. In this case, there was no change in score or notes, which made me very happy indeed.

We arrived at a nondescript address in Paris on a cold but clear blue sky day and made our way through a few doors to meet with Christophe. We were meant to meet with Ben Sitruk as well, but he was not feeling well that day. Since Mr. Sitruk was unavailable, his location was also not an option, and as such, Christophe, who lives in Pomerol, was kind enough to find us a host, who turns out to be the owner of Chateau Marquisat de Binet. It was his home that we entered into on that lovely Parisian day. The home was just about being finished, in regards to some renovations, and the first thing I noticed was the paint smell. There was no way I could stay indoors and smell those wonderful DRC wines. Thankfully, both Christophe and Avi were down with an outdoor tasting, and the clear sky was truly inviting, with the sunlight starting to warm the cool November morning.

We started with the La Folie D’Elie, a wine I had earlier with Yossie and Andrew, in my driveway, in October, and I like this wine. No, this is not a wine for the ages, it has a short window, but it is fun, simple, and a wine I hope will be available at a reasonable price, soon enough, in the USA. The name La Folie D’Elie – is an ode to the child of the owners of Chateau Marquisat de Binet, who shall we say, is slightly rambunctious!

Then we enjoyed the 2015 Chateau Marquisat de Binet, Cuvee Abel, a wine I have now had 3 or so times, and it continues to impress each time. The 2014 vintage is in the drink-now stage – so please do not hold on to those any longer than you have to. Abel is another child of the owners of Chateau Marquisat de Binet, who I can surmise, is slightly less unruly! Though I must say I love the colors and the peacock on the La Folie D’Elie label, just a fun, and joyous expression.

The weather cooperated with us and as the morning sun grew closer we got to tasting the 2015 Echo. This is a wine I have tasted three times and one that still feels closed at the start. It is not as absurd a baby like the 2014 Domaine Roses Camille but it needs time to shine. The conversation with Christophe was mostly in English and it revolved around the winery, the kosher restaurant that Christophe wants to open during the summer months, and the vision of growing the winery, within reason, as they are still constrained by the number of vines that they have in their vineyards.

We then got to taste the 2015 vintage of Domaine Roses Camille Grand Vin de Bordeaux, Pomerol, which I tasted in May alongside its older brother, the 2014 vintage. The 2014 vintage is so closed, so young, it does not even have clothing on yet, a true baby that would be horrible to open at this time. The 2015 vintage is also very closed, a fact I stated in my notes when tasting it again in Paris. Still, it is a drop less closed than 2014 and a riper wine overall, which makes sense given the vintage. I like the 2014 vintage more than 2015, by a drop, but time will tell, if 2015 loses its baby fat and becomes more elegant, like the 2011 and 2012 vintages.

Domaine Roses Camille wines are available from Ben Sitruk’s site and other online sites throughout Europe, while the wines are available in the USA from Andrew Breskin and his site – Liquid Kosher.

My many thanks to both Christophe Bardeau and Anthony Spinasse for hosting us so beautifully and sharing their beautiful wines with us. The wine notes follow below – the explanation of my “scores” can be found here and the explanation for QPR scores can be found here:

2018 Chateau Marquisat de Binet La Folie D’Elie, Montagne Saint-Emilion – Score: 91+ (QPR: WINNER)
This wine is very slow to open, it needs time, like a day or so to fully open, so give this wine some time. It is a clear QPR WINNER but not one that will last as long as the 2015 Chateau Marquisat de Binet “Cuvee Abel”. This wine is a blend of 95% Cabernet Franc & 5% Merlot.

The nose on this wine is lovely, once it opens, fun, exciting, yet not overly complex or for super-long holding, with notes of rich loam, lovely iron, dirt, tart raspberry, sweet blackberry, tart currant, and incredible mineral, really fun! The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is nice, it is deceiving, it starts up front with a plushness, but it has great acidity, easily accessible, still, it has the backbone of acid and tannin that makes for a wine that will last, with sweet and tart fruit of blackberry, raspberry, plum, lovely mineral, graphite, pencil shaving, loam, and forest floor, that gives way to sweet spices, dark and red berries, all wrapped in mouth-draping tannin with a lovely fruit focus. The finish is long, green, herbal, with roasted herbs, smoke, loam, mushroom, graphite, tobacco, and rich fruit, with mineral, saline, and lovely fruit. Bravo!! Drink from 2023 until 2026. (tasted October 2021, November 2021) (in California and Paris, France) (ABV = 13.5%) (tasted

2015 Chateau Marquisat de Binet, Cuvee Abel, Montagne Saint-Emilion – Score: 92+ (QPR: WINNER)
This wine is made from 100% Merlot. This nose on this wine is black, with roasted herb, tarragon, rosemary, blackberry, plum, earth, graphite, and loads of smoke, wow, so fun! With time the nose turns to funk, with dirty socks, and green notes, with loads of red and black fruit. The mouth on this full-bodied wine is dense, fun, dirty, earthy, smoky, and black, with blackberry, cassis, black pepper, soy sauce, funk, and mushroom, wrapped in mouth-draping tannin, smoke, with rich saline, green notes, jalapeno, rich dirt, and a dense plush mouthfeel, lovely! The finish is long, green earthy, smoky, with a plushness, saline, mineral, tobacco, roasted herb, and green notes galore. Lovely! Drink until 2024. (tasted Jan 2021, May 2021, November 2021) (in California and Paris, France) (ABV = 14.5%)

2015 Echo de Roses Camille, Pomerol – Score: 93+ (QPR: GOOD)
This wine is closed and it is nowhere near ready to enjoy. The nose on this wine is dark, brooding, smoky, earthy, dusty, and laden with mushroom, underbrush, foliage, and dark brooding fruit. This wine will be a bruiser once it finally comes around. The mouth on this rich, extracted, ripe, and full-bodied wine is a bruiser, it is incredibly dense, plush, with mouth-drying tannin, with blackberry, strawberry, dense and juicy blueberry, with incredible saline, loam, mushroom, and rich dense forest floor, wow! The finish on this wine is mouth-coating, rich, and extracted, and dense, and all over the mouth, with scrapping graphite, rock, saline, and rich minerality that is backed by great acidity and a dense fruit structure and focus, with dark chocolate, sweet tobacco, menthol/mint, and earth lingering long! WOW! Bravo! Drink from 2026 until 2034. (tasted Jan 2021, May 2021, and November 2021) (in California and Paris, France) (ABV = 14.5%)

2014 Domaine Roses Camille Grand Vin de Bordeaux, Pomerol, Bordeaux – Score: 95 (QPR: GOOD)
I am tasting the 2014 and 2015 vintages side-by-side and my notes will represent my feelings of them as such. The nose on this wine is incredible, it shows less oak than the 2015 vintage does, which to be fair is reasonable as it is one year further removed from the barrel. The nose on this wine is lovely, mineral city, with graphite, black and red fruit, epic control, smoke galore, with roasted meat, spice, earth, and a start to mushroom, forest floor, cedar, sweet dill, and lovely green notes, wow!! This is the nose I dream of. Please remember, DRC is one of those producers that hold on to their wines forever. I felt this way about many of the 2014 wines of the past, but having the chance to relive that now is a true joy! The mouth on this full-bodied wine is closed, the middle is hollow, which will open, if anyone would open this wine and drink it now, I feel sorry for you, this is a wine that is so young it has not even gotten into its clothes yet, a true baby, showing incredible acidity, mouth draping tannin, blackberry, rich saline, graphite, tight texture, with ripe raspberry, smoke, rich loam, earth, and tar. The finish is long, green, earthy, smoky, and mineral-packed, with so much smoke, roasted duck, animal, and tannin that just goes on forever, foliage, dark chocolate, and more dill. WOW!!! Drink from 2035 until 2043. (tasted May 2021) (in California) (ABV = 14%)

2015 Domaine Roses Camille Grand Vin de Bordeaux, Pomerol, Bordeaux – Score: 94.5 (QPR: GOOD)
As stated on the previous 2014 vintage notes I am tasting the 2014 and 2015 vintages of the Domaine Roses Camille side-by-side. The nose on this wine is more closed than the mouth, 2014 is more closed in the mouth than the nose. The nose on this wine is oaky, with lovely green notes, iodine, red, and black fruit, beautiful violets, hints of blue fruit, rich smoke, toast, earth, and loads of black fruit, this nose is far blacker than the 2014 vintage, with black tea, sweet mint, anise, and mineral galore. The mouth on this wine is far more open and accessible than the 2014 vintage, with layers upon layers of concentrated fruit, rich extraction, ripeness that is in line with the 2015 vintage, in vast comparison to the 2014 vintage, along with green notes foliage, fresh forest floor, elegant and mouth draping tannin, with more smoke, toast, sweet oak, sweet dill, menthol, savory notes, bay leaves, rich saline, and lovely loam/earth. The finish is long, green, earthy, with more smoke, toast, and lovely sweet plum, licorice, olives, almost milky dark chocolate. Wow! Drink from 2033 until 2045. (tasted May 2021, November 2021) (in California and Paris, France) (ABV = 14.5%)