Chateau La Fleur Morange- Medal Winner at the Decanter World Wine Awards

Decanter has awarded Chateau La Fleur Morange 2007 a Bronze Medal in their World Wine Awards:

Bronze medal : Rich black fruit on nose, concentrated, some new wood notes. Dense black fruit. Very classy

However I must point out that Decanter quoted the wrong price - it is in fact £33.17 a bottle, in bond or £196 for a case of 6. Robert Parker has rated it at 91-93 points but as yet hasn’t written any notes on it.

The 2009 Decanter World Wine Awards attracted more entries this year than any other wine competition in the world, cementing its position as the world's biggest wine competition. In total 10,285 wines were entered, more than double the amount when the competition launched six years ago. The number of companies submitting wines increased by 23% to 2,240.

Wines are tasted in flights of 12, grouped by region, and in eight price bands: up to £4.99, £5-6.99, £7-9.99, £10-14.99, £15-19.99, £20-29.99, £30-39.99,and £40+. Wines are judged on a regional level to promote a sense of origin. The Decanter World Wine Awards celebrate the diversity of wine, focusing on regional styles and the influence of terroir over bland homogenised styles.

Any type of wine from anywhere in the world can enter the competition, whether red, white, rosé, still, sparkling, sweet or fortified. All wines are tasted in regional flights to find outstanding examples of their type.
Successful wines from the regional judging go on to compete for international trophies. The wines are scored and given a grading: no award, Commended, Bronze, Silver or Gold. Gold-medal wines are retasted by the regional chairs for confirmation.

James Lawther MW was the judge for the Bordeaux region - James Lawther has lived and worked in France for the past 20 years, and has been based in Bordeaux since 1996. He sold wine at Steven Spurrier's Les Caves de la Madeleine in Paris in the 1980s, and has lectured at the Academie du Vin. His early career also involved stints as cellarhand in Bordeaux, Burgundy, the Roussillon and Western Australia. He became a Master of Wine in 1993. He is a contributing editor to Decanter and regularly writes and lectures on wine and acts as a guide in the vineyards of France. He is the author of the Bordeaux Wine Companion and the Bordeaux section of the Global Encyclopaedia of Wine.

Château la Fleur Morange is a boutique wine in Saint-Pey-D'Armens made by Véronique and Jean-François Julien. The vineyard is a 4 acre plot of unique soil with the added rarity of having 100 year old vines. The soil is sand and clay layers over limestone and clinker sub soil – the only complex mixture known to exist in Saint Emilion – which Jean-François says contributes to the finesse of the tannins.

The chateau's vineyards are planted with 70% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Franc and 15% Cabernet Sauvignon grapes. This represents the same percentages in the grapes used to blend all the vintages with the exception of the 2001 where a blend of 50% Merlot and 50% Cabernet Franc were used. The Merlot and Cabernet Franc vines are 100 years old and the Cabernet Sauvignon vines are 75 years old.

Château la Fleur Morange is a superb wine and I am so pleased that it is attracting world wine attention - congratulations to Véronique and Jean-François!