2015 La Dame de Montrose, St Estèphe, Bordeaux
Critics reviews
Tasted blind at the Southwold 2015 Bordeaux tasting.
The 2015 La Dame de Montrose has an attractive bouquet of well defined brambly red fruit, orange peel and rose petal, quite bullish and generous in style. The palate is medium-bodied with lighter tannin than expected, moderate depth, a fine bead of acidity yet slightly lactic toward the finish that steps down a few gears. Fine, but could be better.
Neal Martin, Vinous.com (July 2019)
The 2015 is 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 41% Merlot and 4% Petit Verdot, and spent 12 months in French oak, 30% new.
The 2015 La Dame de Montrose is a super-appealing second wine. Fresh and light on its feet for a wine from this property, La Dame is all about silkiness, precision and aromatic presence. Red cherry fruit, white pepper, spice and mint add to the wine's sensual, open-knit personality.
Drink 2020 - 2030
Antonio Galloni, Vinous.com (February 2018)
The 2015 La Dame de Montrose is deep garnet-purple in colour with a nose of crushed black currants, warm black plums and black truffles with hints of underbrush, dried herbs and tar. It finishes at a good length, is medium-bodied and firm, and has a good core of earth-laced black fruits.
Drink 2019 - 2029
Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW, Wine Advocate (February 2018)
Tasted blind
Very dark crimson. Relatively evolved on the nose. Slightly simple fruit dominates the dusty tannins.
Drink 2024 - 2038
Jancis Robinson MW, JancisRobinson.com (February 2019)
The second wine of Château Montrose.
A very refined red with berries, chocolate and walnuts. Full body and a round, juicy texture. Spicy and salty. Delicious already. It needs two or three years to come together.
James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com (February 2018)
Dense floral and cassis nose with a minerally graphite base. Very good natural richness of fruit and great purity of expression. A very serious, very exciting second wine.
Drink 2021 - 2035
Steven Spurrier, Decanter.com (April 2016)
A blend of 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 41% Merlot and the rest Petit Verdot, the 2015 La Dame de Montrose is a classic wine from this fabulous estate. Notes of graphite, damp earth, tobacco leaf, and that classic cassis fruit of Saint-Estèphe gives way to a medium to full-bodied, seamless, elegant 2015 that’s already drinking beautifully. Tasted twice.
In this critic’s opinion, Château Montrose is at the top of the pyramid in terms of quality in Saint-Estèphe. They’ve produced some of the best wines in the vintage from the northern Médoc in 2015, and possibly the wine of the vintage in 2016.
Drink 2018 - 2039
Jeb Dunnuck, JebDunnuck.com (November 2017)
About this WINE
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.
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
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.
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Description
55% Cabernet Sauvignon; 41% Merlot; 4% Petit Verdot.
The nose has a really nice aroma of tobacco combined with floral notes. Darker fruits dominate, with blackberry, cherry, and plum to the fore. The palate is sweet, too, with an energetic lift and a very rewarding length. We really like the wine this year. A cooling, mineral earthiness arrives on the finish, which is welcome and pleasing. Quite sumptuous for a second wine, it is serious this year—a good fruit core, nice and savoury and a joy to taste.
Berry Bros. & Rudd
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