Right Bank

  • David Lawrason

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    Vanessa Vineyard Right Bank 2014

    91 points – Named to reflect the merlot-based ‘right bank’ blends of St. Emilion and Pomerol in Bordeaux, this contains 77% Merlot, 14% Cabernet Franc and 9% Cab Sauv- fermented and aged 26 months in new American and French oak. It is the lightest and easiest of the current Vanessa offerings. It has a pretty, quite complex well integrated nose with savoury herbal and hay notes, raspberry, wood smoke, resin, vanillin and spice. It is medium bodied, quite smooth, juicy, lively and concentrated. A bit smoky on the finish. The length is excellent.

  • Daenna Van Mulligen

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    Vanessa Vineyard Right Bank 2014

    91 points – “Vanessa Vineyard’s sun-drenched, rocky terrain makes for powerful wines and this new release, a blend of mostly Merlot with Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc is perhaps the most so. The Right Bank is still tightly woven, with sunbaked earth, toasted spice, espresso beans, and black fruits dominating the nose. It’s brooding, inky and extracted and needs time to evolve. However, the bones are there for bottle maturation. I’d like to see what they could do with a larger portion of the Cabernets (something more Left Bank in style) in the blend going forward and see how that version would show.”

  • Natalie MacLean

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    Vanessa Vineyard Right Bank 2014

    94 points – “A full-bodied, beautifully aromatic BC red wine that is a traditional “Right Bank” Bordeaux blend of Merlot-dominating Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc grapes. Aromas of black fruit, mocha and espresso from two years of aging in French and American oak. Only 1,091 cases were produced. Great depth, concentration and character.”

  • Beppi Crosariol

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    Vanessa Vineyard Right Bank 2014

    93 points – “Somebody call Interpol. Clearly this red was stolen from barrels resting in the finest cellars of Pomerol. Actually, that can’t be, because there’s sunnier, richer fruit here than in most wines from that district of Bordeaux. The “right bank” reference here is appropriate, though. It denotes the wines of Bordeaux’s eastern flank, where smooth merlot dominates the blends that tend to comprise smaller proportions of cabernet franc and cabernet sauvignon, as does this beauty from British Columbia’s Similkameen Valley. Polished in texture, poised in stature and firmly structured, it shows perfectly ripened fruit suggesting cherry and raspberry, with notes of chocolate, tangy spice and, I dare say, Bordeaux-style graphite. The tannins are fine-grained and elegant. Worth cellaring for up to a decade. Maybe much more (who knows?).”