2011 La Dame de Montrose, St Estèphe, Bordeaux

2011 La Dame de Montrose, St Estèphe, Bordeaux

Product: 20118124618
 
2011 La Dame de Montrose, St Estèphe, Bordeaux

Buying options

Available by the case In Bond. Pricing excludes duty and VAT, which must be paid separately before delivery. Storage charges apply.
You can place a bid for this wine on BBX

Description

Dark, rich, meaty cassis. Fine texture, spicy, a little leafy but deliciously fresh and alive. Broody, firm but all in place. Firm but fine-grained and some scent on the palate. This showed much better than en primeur – I may have scored it more highly as it was a contrast in style and balance to the preceding rather lack-lustre flight. I was certainly more generous than my fellow tasters.

Drink 2018-2028

Jancis Robinson, jancisrobinson.com (Jan 2015)

wine at a glance

Delivery and quality guarantee

Critics reviews

Jancis Robinson MW17.5/20
Dark, rich, meaty cassis. Fine texture, spicy, a little leafy but deliciously fresh and alive. Broody, firm but all in place. Firm but fine-grained and some scent on the palate. This showed much better than en primeur – I may have scored it more highly as it was a contrast in style and balance to the preceding rather lack-lustre flight. I was certainly more generous than my fellow tasters.

Drink 2018-2028

jancisrobinson.com (Jan 2015) Read more
James Suckling90/100
Spicy with clove and berry character on the nose and palate. Medium body with silky tannins and a fresh finish. Drink from 2015.

James Suckling, jamessuckling.com (Mar 2015) Read more
Decanter16/20
Good depth and good clarity of fruit. A good minor Montrose. Read more
Wine Enthusiast91/100
This structured wine is the second wine of Château Montrose. It is balanced, the smooth, fresh fruits and plum-skin texture making it already accessible. With its juicy aftertaste, it will be ready to drink soon

Wine Enthusiast (May 2014) Read more

About this WINE

Château Montrose

Château Montrose

Château Montrose is part of our Spotlight on sustainability series. You can view the full range here.

Château Montrose is one of the leading wine properties of St.Estéphe, and produces some of the longest-lived wines in the Médoc. Montrose had been owned by Jean-Louis Charmolue from 1962 until 2006, when it was sold  to Martin and Olivier Bouygues, owner of the eponymously named construction firm Bouygues, is located in the east of the appellation, just north of the hamlet of Marbuzet, on a gravel knoll only 800 metres from the Gironde estuary. The proximity of the estuary ensures a microclimate that protects against frost, and the vines, which lie on deep clay-gravel soils, benefit from a south-easterly aspect.

Montrose's wine is typically a blend of 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot  and 10% Cabernet Franc and is matured in oak barriques (30% new) for 18 months.

Montrose wines are traditionally deeply coloured, austere and powerful when young, yet possess superb ageing potential, and when mature are quintessential St.Estèphe clarets. Montrose is classified as a 2ème Cru Classé.

Find out more
Saint-Estèphe

Saint-Estèphe

Saint-Estèphe is the northernmost of the most important communes of the Médoc and borders Pauillac on its southernmost border, with only a gully and stream separates it from Ch. Lafite. To the north lies the Bas-Médoc.

Saint-Estèphe is defined by the depth of its gravel, which is ubiquitous but of varying depths and occasionally very shallow, when clay predominates. This keeps the soil cooler and wetter than its counterparts so that the wines can appear fresh in lighter vintages, but superbly successful in hot, dry years. 

The best châteaux in the south of the commune have the deepest soil and the thickest gravel. Cos d'Estournel has an exceptional terroir with its vineyards being located on a south-facing ridge of gravel with excellent drainage. 

Saint-Estèphe is the least gravelly of main Médoc communes and in the north of the commune the vineyards are heavier and more clay-based leading to a rustic style of wine being produced.

The wines can appear austere in youth with a discernable ferric note at some châteaux, but the best typically display good depth of colour, pronounced acidity an tannins in youth and are exceptionally long-lived. At their best, they are the equal of almost any Bordeaux. The well-regarded St Estèphe co-operative controls the production of about half the appellation.

Recommended Châteaux
Cos (Ch. Cos d'Estournel), Ch. Montrose, Ch. Calon-Ségur, Ch. Lafon-Rochet, Ch. Les Ormes de Pez, Ch. Beau-Site, Ch. Cos Labory, Ch. Phélan-Ségur

Find out more
Cabernet Sauvignon Blend

Cabernet Sauvignon Blend

Cabernet Sauvignon lends itself particularly well in blends with Merlot. This is actually the archetypal Bordeaux blend, though in different proportions in the sub-regions and sometimes topped up with Cabernet Franc, Malbec, and Petit Verdot.

In the Médoc and Graves the percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon in the blend can range from 95% (Mouton-Rothschild) to as low as 40%. It is particularly suited to the dry, warm, free- draining, gravel-rich soils and is responsible for the redolent cassis characteristics as well as the depth of colour, tannic structure and pronounced acidity of Médoc wines. However 100% Cabernet Sauvignon wines can be slightly hollow-tasting in the middle palate and Merlot with its generous, fleshy fruit flavours acts as a perfect foil by filling in this cavity.

In St-Emilion and Pomerol, the blends are Merlot dominated as Cabernet Sauvignon can struggle to ripen there - when it is included, it adds structure and body to the wine. Sassicaia is the most famous Bordeaux blend in Italy and has spawned many imitations, whereby the blend is now firmly established in the New World and particularly in California and  Australia.

Find out more