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  • Country ranking ?

    1 310
  • Producer ranking ?

    49
  • Decanting time

    45min
  • When to drink

    Now
  • Food Pairing

    Beef

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The Story

The result of rigorous selection at each stage of production, in both the vineyard and the winery, this great, predominantly Cabernet Sauvignon wine is typical of the Saint-Estèphe appellation. Structured and tannic but with all the elegance and refinement of a Grand Cru Classé, with time it develops a delicate and complex bouquet.

The wines have considerable ageing potential and are exceptionally long-lived. Certain vintages (1921, 1929, 1982, 1990, 2009, 2016) are considered legendary. 

Matured for 18 months in 60% new oak barrels, the premium wine accounts on average for 55% of the estate’s total production.

 

The 95-hectare vineyard in one single block, extremely unusual in the Medoc, is located on a very well exposed gravelly land, by the Gironde. The vineyard hence overlooks the estuary. The proximity to this vast body of water locally called “river” has a very smoothing climatic impact on the vineyard. The river and its tide mitigate and moderate the climate’s rigor: by mollifying the frost and refreshing blazing summer heat.

60 % of new french oak barrels, supplied by several carefully- selected coopers are used in Montrose, and 40 % in one year old barrels. The average ageing period is 16 to 18 months.

For our second wine, DAME DE MONTROSE, the proportion of new french oak barrels reaches about 15 to 20 %. The average ageing is 12 months; so begins a long process of racking rhythm.

This is a very natural process of slow wine decanting, to isolate the fine particles still present in the wine. All the wines are finely racked every 3 months, a very traditional method.

The wine is moved from one barrel to the other by gravity. Once the barrel’s bottom is reached, the workers carefully view, with a candle, the lees coming off the clear part of the wine. The fining is made traditionally, in barrels, with fresh egg whites, in order to refine the wine and to soften the tannins.

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Latest Pro-tasting notes

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Written Notes

Frank was admiring its 'sweet' nose, although I found it to be more buttery and oaky. In fact, it was the first nose where the oak bothered me a bit . old oak, of course. It was brought to our attention that most of the wines, at least in this flight, except the 1916 which had original corks, were reconditioned at the chateau in 1993. HOWEVER, at Chateau Montrose, all wines are reconditioned with the same vintage (BRAVO). One of greatest tragedies of the 20th century in Bordeaux are the amount of wines that were reconditioned, or topped off, with younger wines, especially when a majority of them did not even have to be in the first place. Basically, we are talking winocide, perhaps more like sedation, as reconditioned wines that are topped off never reach the heights of original or properly reconditioned bottles. Without naming names, suffice it to say that there were some significant chateaux in Bordeaux that topped off many wines, wines with good fills even, unnecessarily and incorrectly. But I digress&the 1918 came around a bit with some aeration, although Francois Audouze and Michel both said that wines of this age are meant to sit in the glass and not be swirled. Well, mine benefited from some swirling, and some carob, old wood and book, a touch of musk and caramel all emerged. The wine had nice texture and body, flesh and balance, still meat on its bones, but its flavors were definitely old. Its 'oldness' was not necessarily a negative, but not necessarily a positive either. Frank said 'it still has life, but it might need a eulogy soon.' The structure held, and I had to respect the wine, but its old flavors were not my cup of&tea. Serena Sutcliffe waxed on about the wine's virtues, however, calling it 'scented' and 'so elegant.' She filled us in on a bit of history, reminding us that at the time it was regarded as a big vintage that needed time, and that in the past, vintages were not judged as they are now

  • 90p

Tasted on the 2nd November 2018. Stand A. Chateau bottled. Truffles, light, quite similar to Latour in appearance and quality. Very impressive.

  • 93p
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Origin

St. Estephe, Bordeaux
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