External search
Google (images)
Wine Advocate
Wine Spectator
Burghound
Wine-Searcher
Vintages
2023
2022
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
Show more
From this producer
Show all wines
All tasting notes
|
| Drinking Windows and Values |
| Community Tasting History |
| Community Tasting Notes (average 96.2 pts. and median of 96 pts. in 165 notes) - hiding notes with no text | | | Tasted by slaughterer on 5/4/2024 & rated 100 points: Opened the bottle in the morning, decanted two hours before drinking. Color: extremely dark red-black. On the nose sweet cassis, red currant, eucalyptus, fresh mint, milk chocolate, very balanced, intense and in full harmony. On the palate fresh red currant, mulberry, fruit dominating over cassis and minerals, but not too sweet. Chocolate overtones kick in an hour after serving. Ultra polished tannins, very soft, not a trace of rawness, velvety mouthfeel, and very long. A perfect fine wine of racy finesse at the beginning of its drinking window. So different from many of the highly-structured-power-Montrose-wines of the past. Absolutely gorgeous. (667 views) | | | Tasted by Lord of the Bottles on 4/19/2024: This seems to have closed up some since another bottle I had a year ago. Serious concentration but all black fruit and wood. Maybe in 5-10 years this will be awesome. (1991 views) | | | Tasted by drjb on 4/17/2024 & rated 98 points: At Wine Group Dinner 203, Harveys Bistro - 2009 Left Bank. This opened beautifully with a deep pure crimson colour and a soaring nose of blackcurrants, garnet plums, dark raspberries, dark chocolate, cedar and charcoal with touches of white flowers. The palate is rich and layered with a Latour-like strictness that provides great length, purity and nuance. This is great wine. (1804 views) | | | Tasted by MarcVH on 4/13/2024 & rated 98 points: Tasted next to Pontet Canet 2009 and Pavie 2009 this Montrose was simply brilliant. Still young but already so good. This will become a "perfect" wine in 10-15 years from now but it is already Champions League level. Incredible nose of dark forest fruits, graphite, vanilla and what a smoothness and silk in terms of mouthfeel. Great length and complexity. Big wine. (2049 views) | | | Tasted by garymouton on 4/10/2024: Four hour double decant, but this wine was still very tight for me. I was struggling to get primary fruit here let alone some of the secondary characteristics some have described. It certainly has all the structure to be a great wine, but I am not touching another bottle until 2030 at the earliest. Did not have with food, which might have softened the tannins. Bought on release. (2330 views) | | | Tasted by Montesquieu on 3/23/2024 & rated 97 points: Second time this was my WOTN, although this time, the comparison was an eclectic group of Cote Rotie, Amarone, Zin, and 1905 Sherry. Beautiful vintage drinking well now and surely better in the years ahead. (2442 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 clear dark red color; started strongly reductive and restrained in nose and mouth; almost brute texture; total metamorphosis after approx. 30 minutes; lavish bouquet of cassis, blueberry, blackberry, cherries and herbs de Provence; smooth and juicy on the palate. 96+/100
Together with the 2010 vintages best wine of flight I … has a high potential to improve.
Vintages of flight I:
1992 - 1998 - 2001 - 2003 - 2009 - 2010 - 2012 (2798 views) | | | Tasted by havana4 🍾🍇 on 1/25/2024 & rated 96 points: An absolute beast of a Left banker. Amazing balance with a 20 second finish. (3961 views) | | | Tasted by Oechsle on 1/22/2024 & rated 96 points: Outstanding juice seeming complete with Bright Future. Subdued nose, aromatics aren’t leaping forth but, need to be coaxed. Each little swirl yielding something new, High tones sliced white button mushroom, green bramble lift and purple flowers, Dark Fruited, Baked Pie Crust with Base note hints of sweet gamey meat and new leather. Palate harmonious although tannic structure is apparent. Medium+ weight, Creamy-Velvet like texture with well judged Balancing acidity. Fruit profile is Bushy with Black Currant and Blackberry, Mulberries smeared into crushed gravel. Two hours in, the switch got flipped on and Clean Ripe Core of fruit came to forefront. Slight chill made the fruit show even better, with 14% alc. no sense of heat.
Day 2 – after vacuum and chill aromatics were not as faceted, palate fruit fading behind more robust acidity and tannins. Saline black soil adding to flavor profile underneath. Purchased as futures, stored accordingly, enjoyed with butter seared rib eye. Referencing instructions found inside the case from Chateau. Aging window 20-60 years, Decant two hours before meal, serve at about 64.4 degrees. Won’t touch another for 5-6 years and plan to enjoy my last few bottles through a straw when I’m in assisted living…Na zdrowie (3778 views) | | | Tasted by sjfunkenhauser on 1/7/2024 & rated 96 points: Still quite young, but after a 2 hour decant it really perks up. Ripe dark fruit, international spices and earthy undertones. The nose is fairly subtle, but the palate foreshadows the beast lurking below. Very concentrated, but seamlessly melded together. Ending with an incredibly long dark chocolate finish. Can drink now, but will certainly improve.
Deep ruby colour.
Pronounced aromas of black berry, black cherry, cassis, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla, wet leaves, just a hint of mushroom, dried dirt, cedar, licorice, graphite, mint, crushed violets, dark chocolate.
Pronounced palate.
Full body, high acidity, high velvety tannins, long finish. (3976 views) | | | Tasted by Ericsson on 12/24/2023 & rated 94 points: 5 ans depuis ma dernière bouteille.
Ouvert et carafé 4 heures avant dégustation puis bu durant 3 heures.
Beaucoup de réglisse puis baies des bois, puissant, concentré, une touche de chaleur quand même, californien, long.
Évolution lente, à revoir, pas forcément dans l’air du temps. (3309 views) | | | Tasted by Collector1855 on 12/12/2023 & rated 96 points: Salon Ficofi Paris walkabout tasting and dinner, no detailed tasting notes. From DMG. Feels young still, not many tertiary notes yet. Good balance despite, lush, but not overripe. (4024 views) | | | Tasted by LorenGrossman on 12/9/2023 & rated 96 points: A blockbuster. Stuffed full of ripe blackberry and cassis, with complimentary notes of graphite, mesquite ember, asphalt and grilled meats. Everything seems primary and in need of significant bottle time to smooth out and integrate. The palate is dense and packed, hard to read due to the youthful exuberance of the wine. No question that this is a great wine in the making with significant cellar time required. 4 hour decant. (2842 views) | | | Tasted by Redbordo on 11/10/2023 & rated 99 points: A lovely Montrose, power, elegance, and balance, with the longest of finishes. Decades of evolution ahead of it, a classic vintage. (3541 views) | | | Tasted by Montesquieu on 11/4/2023 & rated 97 points: 100-rated 2009 Bordeaux dinner: Tonight's event featured eight 100-point-professinally-rated (by Parker and/or Dunnuck) 2009 Bordeaux reds plus Yquem. The reds: Montrose, Pontet-Canet, Leoville Poyferre, Ducru-Beaucaillou, Smith Haut Lafitte, Clinet, Clos Fortet, and Troplong Mondot. All were purchased upon release, properly cellared, and decanted 3 hours before consumption over another 2-3 hours. In general, IMO and by consensus, none of the reds drank close to perfection. Did they on release? No idea. Will they in time? No idea. I rated them in a relatively tight band of 93-97 tonight. If I owned them, I'd wait on all and gamble on tertiary development. None had material tertiary flavors now. I would hold and gamble on their getting better with it than without. WOTN was unquestionably the d'Yquem. Unlike the reds, it was immortal and perfect.
The Montrose was my red WOTN. Two others agreed with me, but the other table rated it at the bottom of their list. I found it beautifully lean, balance, and full of attractive cedar and lead notes. (4011 views) | | | Tasted by zorglub123 on 8/19/2023 & rated 93 points: Bon nez de fruit très pur. Très gras et d’un superbe raffinement en attaque. C’est d’une trame très pure, d’une vraie finesse et l’élégance de ce vin est particulièrement évidente. La fin de bouche, bien que jolie, n’est cependant pas au même niveau, étant même à la limite de la sensation de sécheresse. Un tout petit peu trop extrait ? Dommage car la belle minéralité en longueur est fort bienvenue. (4574 views) | | | Tasted by Lord of the Bottles on 7/27/2023 & rated 96 points: Decanted and poured into glasses. This needed over an hour to really open. Classic cabernet notes of cassis, cherry, crushed rocks, cedar wood, black fruit, and more cedar on the finish. Nothing jumps out at you - just a really well made classic Medoc that needs another few years to hit prime time. 96 (4795 views) | | | Tasted by Indran Rajendra on 5/13/2023 & rated 95 points: I last tasted this wine in 2016 when it was 7 years old and an impressive wine with primary aromas and flavors. At 14 years it has started developing the aged mushroom characters and the mouthfeel has softened. It is still opaque and dark at the core with a ruby/mahogany rim. It takes 1/2 hour for the bouquet to emerge fully. It has milk coffee, dusty, charcoal, nutmeg, cinnamon, blueberry, blackberry, dark cherries, blackcurrant and liver pate notes. The structure is firmly tannic, balanced and elegant. It has lost the characteristic earthiness/roses I associate with young St Estephe wines. It does retain the extroverted masculine personality. A shining example of what St Estephe can produce. I would be drinking this wine now and for the next 20 years. Drunk from Riedel Bordeaux glasses at 15 deg C. Starts deteriorating at 1hr and 15 minutes.NS (5915 views) | | | Tasted by Oddbod on 3/2/2023 & rated 98 points: The stand out super second in this 2009 tasting. First growth quality, restrained winemaking and Northern Medoc relative coolness resulting in a beautifully structured, surprisingly elegant wine. Classic warm red brick nose. A long life ahead. William Kelly also loved.
Post script. I can’t get the profile of this wine out of my head. Like an ear worm song, this wine stays with me weeks after I tasted it. The more I reflected on it, the more I became convinced Montrose is the equal of the first growths. I am now head over heels in love with the new Montrose, having only tasted the older style vintages before. (6930 views) | | | Tasted by JohannesGlugla on 1/14/2023 & rated 96 points: Very nice, cherry in the nose, taste a bit more young summer berries. Wonderful wine. Drank it vs 2010 and this is equally nice on the early fruity parts, but additionally has a tighter tannin structure and more earthy, leathery taste at the end. Both are amazing, but this wins on complexity. (7127 views) | | | Tasted by Collector1855 on 12/11/2022 & rated 96 points: Even after a 4h decant, this wine is properly sleeping, tight, with dark fruit, a touch of alcoholic heat and not much more. I would not open this anytime soon. Currently the Montrose 1996 is showing really well, so you can extrapolate, open this after 2029 only. Hard to score from this showing 95-97+ (7281 views) | | | Tasted by merlotsmile on 8/18/2022 & rated 96 points: Vinklubben Vinminnen 10 (8798 views) | | | Tasted by KTelaak_Buffalo on 8/3/2022 & rated 95 points: Enjoyed over 2 days. Slightly better on night #2. Overall a really solid Bordeaux. Plenty of unmistakable old world fruit characteristics. (7822 views) | | | Tasted by mchern02 on 8/1/2022 & rated 96 points: 2 hour decant and followed over many hours
Dark and dimensional nose, with crystallized dark blue fruit, pencil lead, dark violets, smoke and minerals. Fresh, forward and ripe, with enormous presence, vibrant and acidic with great length. Explosive finish; youthful but not unapproachable, enormous potential upside and already quite enjoyable today. One of the WOTV for me in 2009. (7306 views) | | | Tasted by chanukha on 7/29/2022 & rated 95 points: At this stage I would choose 2009 vintage over 2010 hands down. Maybe 10 years from now that would be different but I can't wait that long for wines be ready. The density of flavor, fresh and fruit forward but with good acidity at the end. Great wine with our steaks at Gage and Tollner in Brooklyn. (6710 views) | | | Only displaying the 25 most recent notes - click to see all notes for this wine... |
| By Jancis Robinson, MW
JancisRobinson.com (10/5/2023)
(Ch Montrose St-Estèphe Red) Subscribe to see review text. | By Jeb Dunnuck
JebDunnuck.com, Up From The Cellar No. 21 & Misc. New Releases (5/22/2023)
(Chateau Montrose) Login and sign up and see review text. | By Jane Anson
Decanter, Tasting Bordeaux blind (10/21/2020)
(Château Montrose, St-Estèphe, Bordeaux, France, Red) Subscribe to see review text. | By Elin McCoy
Decanter, Château Montrose: producer profile (5/21/2019)
(Château Montrose, St-Estèphe, Bordeaux, France, Red) Subscribe to see review text. | By James Suckling
JamesSuckling.com (3/11/2019)
(Château Montrose St.-Estèphe, France) Subscribe to see review text. | By Neal Martin
Vinous, A Test Of Greatness: 2009 Bordeaux Ten Years On (March 2019) (3/1/2019)
(Montrose Montrose Red) Subscribe to see review text. | By Neal Martin
Vinous, A Test Of Greatness: 2009 Bordeaux Ten Years On (March 2019) (3/1/2019)
(Montrose Montrose Red) Subscribe to see review text. | By Neal Martin
Vinous, A Test Of Greatness: 2009 Bordeaux Ten Years On (March 2019) (3/1/2019)
(Montrose Montrose Red) Subscribe to see review text. | By Jancis Robinson, MW
JancisRobinson.com (2/14/2019)
(Ch Montrose St-Estèphe Red) Subscribe to see review text. | By Jane Anson
Decanter, Bordeaux 2009 10 years on (2/7/2019)
(Château Montrose, St-Estèphe, Red) Subscribe to see review text. | By Jancis Robinson, MW
JancisRobinson.com (2/7/2019)
(Ch Montrose St-Estèphe Red) Subscribe to see review text. | By Panel Tasting
Decanter, Montrose Vertical (3/29/2017)
(Château Montrose, St-Estèphe, Red) Subscribe to see review text. | By Jancis Robinson, MW
JancisRobinson.com (7/15/2015)
(Ch Montrose St-Estèphe Red) Subscribe to see review text. | By Mike Bennie
The WINEFRONT (11/26/2013)
(Chateau Montrose) Subscribe to see review text. | By David Lawrason
WineAlign (11/26/2013)
(Château Montrose, Ac St Estèphe red) Subscribe to see review text. | By John Szabo, MS
WineAlign (11/21/2013)
(Château Montrose, Ac St Estèphe red) Subscribe to see review text. | By Richard Hemming, MW
JancisRobinson.com (11/20/2013)
(Ch Montrose St-Estèphe Red) Subscribe to see review text. | By Chris Kissack
Winedoctor, November 2013 (11/1/2013)
(Château Montrose St Estèphe Red) Subscribe to see review text. | By Jancis Robinson, MW
JancisRobinson.com (1/17/2013)
(Ch Montrose St-Estèphe Red) Subscribe to see review text. | The World of Fine Wine, June 2010, Issue #28
(Château Montrose 2ème Cru) Login and sign up and see review text. | By Ian D'Agata
Vinous, May/June 2010, IWC Issue #150
(Chateau Montrose Saint Estephe) Subscribe to see review text. | By Jancis Robinson, MW
JancisRobinson.com (4/21/2010)
(Ch Montrose St-Estèphe Red) Subscribe to see review text. | By Jancis Robinson, MW
JancisRobinson.com (4/1/2010)
(Ch Montrose St-Estèphe Red) Subscribe to see review text. | By John Gilman
View From the Cellar, Mar/Apr 2010, Issue #26, The 2009 Bordeaux Vintage- Futures’ Glory?
(Château Montrose) Login and sign up and see review text. | By Panel Tasting
Decanter
(Château Montrose, St-Estèphe, Bordeaux, France, Red) Subscribe to see review text. |
NOTE: Scores and reviews are the property of JancisRobinson.com and JebDunnuck.com and Decanter and JamesSuckling.com and Vinous and The WINEFRONT and WineAlign and Winedoctor and The World of Fine Wine and View From the Cellar. (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). |
|
