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| Drinking Windows and Values |
| Community Tasting History |
| Community Tasting Notes (average 94.8 pts. and median of 95 pts. in 584 notes) - hiding notes with no text | | | Tasted by jjones on 4/20/2024 & rated 95 points: Still needs a minimum of 2 hours to begin to open. Wonderfully complex nose of cedar, red current, earth, meat and leather. In the mouth, correspondingly complex. Mix of red and dark fruit. Tannins present, but soft. Long beautiful finish. (626 views) | | | Tasted by Victor Horsley on 4/8/2024: Needs a lot of time to open. (1036 views) | | | Tasted by Ernestas on 4/5/2024 & rated 98 points: A thrilling St. Estephe, so smoky & animalistic that many of us went directly to N. Rhone. So youthful, wow… according to Jeff Leve it is finally in its drinking window since last year. A blend of 65% CS, 25% Merlot & 10% CF. Explosive intensity aroma of smoked meat, cigar box, earth, smoky prunes, cassis, leather, touch of barn & garrigue. Full body, echoing delightful smokiness from aroma layered with saline earthy red and black fruits, mild dustiness, sublime complexity and concentration, soft medium tannins. (841 views) | | | Tasted by DCHawkeye on 3/16/2024 & rated 99 points: Opened with no decant for a milestone birthday dinner at the Inn at Little Washington, this was a stunning bottle. Gorgeous wine at 35 years. Neck and neck with the D'Yquem for wine of the night.
Wines:
Krug Grande Cuvée NV;
2010 Bonneau du Martray Corton Charlemagne Grand Cru;
2010 Clos des Lambrays Grand Cru;
2009 d'Angerville Volnay 1er Cru Clos des Ducs;
1989 Chateau Montrose; and
1988 Chateau d'Yquem (750 ml). (611 views) | | | Tasted by Fatty Cat on 3/2/2024 & rated 96 points: Early Mar 2024, Rheingau Gourmet Festival, rarity diner “25 vintages of Chateau Montrose”: according to the sommelier double decanted for up to 3 hours; deep crimson color; thriving bouquet of cassis, cherries, mint and herbs; smooth, round, and fruity texture.
Outstanding Montrose 1989, however, one step behind the 1990 vintage.
Vintages of flight II:
1975 - 1986 - 1989 - 1990 - 1991 - 1994 - 1996 (1681 views) | | | Tasted by sdr on 2/24/2024 & rated 97 points: Almost freakishly good, apotheosis of St. Estèphe mature glory. Medium ruby, amber edge. Majorly intense on nose and palate. The blackest of fruit, juicy acidity, firm integrated slightly coarse tannins, great length. Cannot improve but it doesn’t have to. While it may not fade any time soon there is no reason to wait if you want to catch it at peak. The ‘89 seems more consistent and just as good as the (in)famous 1990 version. (1612 views) | | | Tasted by dream on 1/12/2024 & rated 94 points: This bottle was stubborn to come around even after a 5-hour double-decant. It opened more in the glass to reveal a fabulous depth of black fruits and lots of earthy, rustic depth. The texture was seamless and the finish showed still strong and slightly coarse tannins. There is a wonderful complexity developing here with notes of Asian spices, dark tilled earth and horse leathers. This bottle, at least, could use more time but love the terroir that's starting to show here. 94+ (2149 views) | | | Tasted by paulst on 12/25/2023 & rated 97 points: Sweet cedar-blackberry nose; resolved tannin; silky and lively; long sweet finish. (2082 views) | | | Tasted by jviz on 12/3/2023 & rated 97 points: There it is! This was a near perfect wine. For all the 89s I’ve enjoyed, this was on the more elegant, delicate end of the spectrum. Yes, you have blackcurrant, a little sweet fig and tar, with good resolution, but it’s lighter bodied than the 90 Montrose, and cleaner, less rustic than say 89 Pichon Lalande. Anyway, great wine that can sometimes be (wrongly) lost in the shadow of the 1990. (2525 views) | | | Tasted by 831900_ on 12/3/2023 & rated 94 points: Light, clear, bricking. Some caramel, some menthol and eucalyptus. Long-ish finish. "Beautiful" shows up in my written notes a few times. (1938 views) | | | Tasted by Barsacpinci on 12/3/2023 & rated 94 points: Took a very long time to open up. Slow oxed from 2 to 7 PM! Opened for Bordeaux Wine Enthusiasts convention in DC 2023. Very, very bretty. Once open (by 8 PM), it was a very full bodied intense wine with dark, dark fruit like plums but with lots of leather notes to it. (1853 views) | | | Tasted by Motz on 11/5/2023 & rated 98 points: The second of five wines tasted with a good friend over a long afternoon and evening. I am grateful to my friend for bringing this. It is the eighth Bordeaux that I have score 98 points or higher on this platform.
Enthralling bouquet! Shading to Margaux. One could sit with the perfume, without tasting, and come away satisfied. Showing more youth than expected. Effusive secondary notes and some tertiary. All as it should be, and so much more.
Firm and wondrously expansive. Wave after wave, turn after turn, this wine brings it! Purity, harmony, and balance, at all phases. The palate, like the bouquet, shows more youth than expected.
This bottle, a great one, seemed to have a few years of evolution remaining. Recommend a two+ hour decant if drinking now. Likely to hold through 2030 with ease. 98-99. (2642 views) | | | Tasted by aquacongas on 10/21/2023 & rated 97 points: blind
I guessed Pauillac from 1986. Very powerful. Cigar box, iron, black currant, leather. Still very vivid. Not reached his peak. 97 (2440 views) | | | Tasted by Jeff Leve on 9/27/2023 & rated 98 points: Often as good as, and sometimes even better than the famous 1990, this bottle was singing at the top of its lunch with layer after of sweet, ripe, juicy currants, flowers, citrus, and cedar. Long, intense, concentrated, full-bodied, and harmonious, this is one of the wines of the vintage. Drink from 2023-2055. (3835 views) | | | Tasted by paulst on 8/15/2023 & rated 93 points: Earth and light berry with cedar; balanced and complex; elegant finish. (2800 views) | | | Tasted by Ruby99 on 6/13/2023 & rated 95 points: A wonderful wine
Brick at the rim
The nose opens with manure and fabulous scorched earth that then gives way to leather and black cherries
On the palate the wine is round and inviting with rich dark red fruits and a bit of spice with a long refined finish
still some tannin here too. This wine probably still has 10 great years in it
Exactly what you want your Bordeaux to be and a pleasure to savor (3105 views) | | | Tasted by devraj on 5/22/2023 & rated 96 points: Dark red in color with slight lightening towards the rim. Intensely aromatic on the nose showing black small berries, truffle, ash and forest floor. Very structured but silky palate shows waves of smoky black fruits, medium acidity, fine tannins and a long finish that shows hints of leather and aged wood spice. (2754 views) | | | Tasted by Jth3 on 4/2/2023 & rated 80 points: What a disappointment. Cork and color still good without evidence of significant age despite 34 years. Very little sediment on decanting. The wine is largely devoid of fruit and still somewhat tannic. Disjointed but improved a bit after a couple of hours. I wish I had consumed it 10 years ago when it was more nearly at its peak. I cannot understand some of the exceptional ratings; maybe this bottle was flawed and will open the remaining bottles I own in the near future. Tasted next to a 20 year old California cab and was not even in the same ballpark... (3465 views) | | | Tasted by MOWineBoston on 3/22/2023 & rated 93 points: Dinner Maison Pavlov March 22 2023. WOTN together with 2003 Haut Brion. Delightful and totally in the best of the drinking window. An historical year for Bordeaux. (3019 views) | | | Tasted by Mchiarot on 3/18/2023 & rated 94 points: Such a masculine wine, but but with curves, and a subtlety that only comes with age. I love this wine. Has a bit left in the tank but I doubt it will get any better..... why wait. went beautifully with roasted beef tenderloin (2873 views) | | | Tasted by Cailles on 3/12/2023 & rated 96 points: This is classic Bordeaux at its best. All the beautiful tertiary aromas paired with high precision, an intact fruit core and a masculine, high-tension structural frame. This bottle was not as evolved, complex and soft as the best bottles of this I had (rated 98pts) but not far away.
TN: Tobacco, herbs, truffles, fine dark fruit on the very inviting nose. On the palate this has everything you want from an old Bordeaux: still an intense, good, fresh fruit core alongside beautiful truffles, tobacco, herbs, minerality aromas as well as intriguing minty notes. Complex and precise. Superb tannins, still a bit masculine but fine and round. Not airy but without any shred of excess weight. Long finish.
Decanting: Decanted for roughly 4 hours. It could have used even a bit more. (3037 views) | | | Tasted by Collector1855 on 3/12/2023 & rated 96 points: Blind tasting. Beautiful mature Medoc nose with underbrush, peat, dark fruit. Complete, complex. I recently had this from Jero where it performed even better. (2726 views) | | | Tasted by La Sprezzatura on 3/10/2023 & rated 96 points: classic bordeaux-nose with barnyard, leather, pencil lead, everything is nice and compact. like a well orchestrated orchestra. no notes are off.
this is in a great spot now. but I still think that it has some room for improvement and further ageing. (1694 views) | | | Tasted by sirpat00 on 3/10/2023 & rated 93 points: Tasted blind. Dense and nicely aged aroma profile with barnyard notes, underwood and mushrooms. Fruit of dark berries and blueberries, fresh in style and an ideal match with the aging notes. Sufficient tension, but the palate appeared to be thinning out a bit. Slightly leathery finish. This was still pretty good, but the least convincing bottle I’ve had to date (1x in 2019, 3x in 2021). (2292 views) | | | Tasted by djhammond on 3/9/2023 flawed bottle: Unfortunately this was slightly tainted. It was still drinkable and highly enjoyable, but it is unfair to rate. (2097 views) | | | Only displaying the 25 most recent notes - click to see all notes for this wine... |
| By Neal Martin
Vinous, A Century of Bordeaux: The Nines (Sep 2019) (9/1/2019)
(Montrose Montrose Red) Subscribe to see review text. | By John Gilman
View From the Cellar, Mar/Apr 2019, Issue #80, Another Look At the 1989 and 1990 Bordeaux - Twin Vintages Have Taken Different Paths With Age
(Château Montrose) Login and sign up and see review text. | By Jancis Robinson, MW
JancisRobinson.com (2/13/2019)
(Ch Montrose St-Estèphe Red) Subscribe to see review text. | By James Suckling
JamesSuckling.com (6/12/2016)
(Château Montrose Saint-Estèphe Bordeaux, France) Subscribe to see review text. | By Jancis Robinson, MW
JancisRobinson.com (11/25/2014)
(Ch Montrose St-Estèphe Red) Subscribe to see review text. | By John Gilman
View From the Cellar, Jul/Aug 2012, Issue #40, The Annual Champagne and Sparkling Wine Report
(Château Montrose) Login and sign up and see review text. | By Chris Kissack
Winedoctor, October 2010
(Chateau Montrose (St Estèphe)) Subscribe to see review text. | By Chris Kissack
Winedoctor, October 2010
(Château Montrose St Estèphe Red) Subscribe to see review text. | By John Kapon
Vintage Tastings, '24' in Bordeaux (1/31/2010)
(Montrose) Login and sign up and see review text. | By Jancis Robinson, MW
JancisRobinson.com (9/20/2005)
(Ch Montrose St-Estèphe Red) Subscribe to see review text. | By John Kapon
Vintage Tastings, Paris a la Mode with Dr. Desai (9/19/2005)
(Montrose) Login and sign up and see review text. | By Richard Jennings
RJonWine.com (6/19/2009)
(Château Montrose) Very dark red violet color; mature, mushroom nose; tasty, tart berry, cassis and mineral palate; medium-plus finish 92+ pts. 92 points |
NOTE: Scores and reviews are the property of Vinous and View From the Cellar and JancisRobinson.com and JamesSuckling.com and Winedoctor and Vintage Tastings and RJonWine.com. (manage subscription channels) |
| Château Montrose Producer website – Read more about Chateau Montrose
This was acquired In 1778 as part of the Calon estate, by Etienne Théodore Dumoulin. After his death, his son, (also Etienne Théodore Dumoulin) cleared the vegetation and discovered the soil beneath was gravelly and suitable for the vine. Planting was completed by 1815 with good results. By 1820, Dumoulin had expanded the vineyard and built a small chateau. This vineyard has changed hands many times over the years. New equipment in 1975, and again in 1985, and a new barrel cellar helped sow the seeds for Montrose's renovation, which reached a peak in about 2000 with some excellent wines. The estate and the wines were enjoying a great reputation when, in 2006, it changed hands once more when Martin & Oliver Bouygues bought the vineyard. The vineyard is currently 65 hectares with 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot, 8% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot. The wines go into oak, 70% new for eighteen months for the Grand Vin Chateau Montrose (typically 19,000 cases per annum). Red Bordeaux BlendRed Bordeaux is generally made from a blend of grapes. Permitted grapes are Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Petit Verdot, Malbec and rarely Carménère.Today Carménère is rarely used, with Château Clerc Milon, a fifth growth Bordeaux, being one of the few to still retain Carménère vines. As of July 2019, Bordeaux wineries authorized the use of four new red grapes to combat temperature increases in Bordeaux. These newly approved grapes are Marselan, Touriga Nacional, Castets, and Arinarnoa.
Wineries all over the world aspire to making wines in a Bordeaux style. In 1988, a group of American vintners formed The Meritage Association to identify wines made in this way. Although most Meritage wines come from California, there are members of the Meritage Association in 18 states and five other countries, including Argentina, Australia, Canada, Israel, and Mexico.France Vins de France (Office National Interprofessionnel des Vins ) | Pages Vins, Directory of French Winegrowers | French Wine (Wikipedia)
Wine Scholar Guild vintage ratings
2018 vintage: "marked by a wet spring, a superb summer and a good harvest"
2019 vintage reports
2021: "From a general standpoint, whether for white, rosé or red wines, 2021 is a year marked by quality in the Rhône Valley Vineyards. Structured, elegant, fresh and fruity will be the main keywords for this new vintage."
2022 harvest: idealwine.info | wine-searcher.comBordeaux Bordeaux Wine Guide
Vins Bordeaux (Conseil Interprofessionnel du Vin de Bordeaux)
History of Bordeaux
History of 1855 Bordeaux Classification
"2009 is all about ripeness, with wines impressively packed with ripe fruit and high alcohol levels. They are showy, in-your-face, and full of pleasure. The 2010s have the fruit and alcohol levels of the 2009s, but with a compelling freshness on the finish that balances the fruit and provides a perfect sense of structure." - Ben Nelson
"2016 is a landmark vintage in certain spots of Bordeaux and it should be remembered as one of the most inspired campaigns of the last 40-50+ years." -Jon Rimmerman
"The quality of red Bordeaux in 2016 was universally lauded – although the response to the en primeur campaign was muted. Quantity was high too, with the equivalent of 770 million bottles of wine produced. An exceptionally dry summer with cool nights eventually, thanks to mid September rain, resulted in small, thick-skinned, ripe grapes, and the wines are marked by high tannin and acidity, with superb aromatic fragrance." - Jancis Robinson
"2017 was complicated, but there are some excellent wines. Expect plenty of freshness and drinkability from wines that will offer excellent value, and others that will rival 2016 in terms of ripeness and ageability. But they are likely to be the exception not the rule, making careful selection key." - Jane Anson
"In the past, a vintage such as 2022 may have been overripe, raisined and low in acidity but 2022 had a sneaky little reservoir in its back pocket - a near perfect marriage of cool/cold/rain the previous winter and the previous vintage that literally soaked the soils (a key to why 2022 is not 2003...or 1893)." - Jon RimmermanMédoc Vins du Médoc (Conseil des Vins du Médoc) - Read More about the Medoc
VdB
The eight precisely defined appellations of the whole of the Médoc (from Blanquefort Brook to the north of the Bordeaux built-up area, almost to the Pointe de Grave) may claim the Médoc appellation. But there is also a specific territory in the north of the peninsula which produces exclusively wines with this appellation. In the great majority, the Médocs come from the north of the peninsula. The great individuality of this region is that the number of vines has increased more recently here than elsewhere, apart from a few isolated spots where vines have grown for many years. Today, the size of the small estate has brought about the development of a powerful co-operative movement. Four co-operatives out of five belong to the group called Unimédoc which ensures aging, bottling and marketing a large proportion of their wines.St. Estèphe Read more about St. Estephe and its wines Whereas the first activity recorded in Saint-Estèphe goes back as far as the Middle Bronze Age, the first vines date from the Roman Occupation. But it was the Bordeaux merchants who by aging and selling Saint-Estèphe wines themselves were largely responsible for this appellation's fame. And in the nineteenth century, noted for its prosperity, the great estates of today were created. The movement continues today with the merging of small estates.
A land of great wines, Saint-Estèphe is situated almost in the centre of the Médoc, close to the Gironde Estuary. The appellation is equidistant from Bordeaux and the Pointe de Grave.
The beds of soil are characterized by their remarkable diversity, the result of their undulating relief and excellent drainage. Quartz and well-rounded pebbles mingled with light, sandy surface soil are found everywhere, giving the wines a distinctive finesse. And the subsoil is made up of the famous Saint-Estèphe limestone, which outcrops on the west of the commune.
Tasting
Thanks to ideal conditions of climate and geology, Saint-Estèphe wines are characterized by their sturdy qualities and robust constitution. Accordingly, they can be laid down for a very long time while yet preserving their youth and freshness. Distinguished by a subsoil which is more clayey than that in the other communal appellations which lie by the river, the wine here attains a distinctive individuality : a very rich tannic structure, a fine deep red colour and an exceptional backbone with aromas of great finesse.
Production conditions (Decree dated September 11, 1936):
In order to have the right to the Saint-Estèphe appellation of controlled origin, red wines must:
- come from the communes of Saint-Estèphe, "excluding any parcels in that area which are situated on recent alluvium and sand on impermeable subsoils",
- satisfy precise production conditions : grape-varieties (Cabernet-Sauvignon, Cabernet-Franc, Carmenère, Merlot Noir, Petit Verdot, Cot or Malbec), minimum of sugar (178 grammes - 6.27 oz. - per litre of must) degree (an acquired 10°5) base yield (45 hectolitres per hectare). |
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