2020 La Serre

Including 15% Cabernet Franc, the Merlot-dominated 2020 Château La Serre comes from a 7-hectare vineyard of clay over limestone soils. It's another powerful, concentrated 2020 that has a load of fruit (black cherries, currants) as well as complex notes of loamy earth, spice box, and tobacco, with nicely integrated background oak. It has enough fruit and texture to offer pleasure today yet is going to evolve nicely for 20 years if well-stored.

The 2020 La Serre was very seductive when I first encountered it from barrel. In bottle, it has certainly closed up on the nose, perchance due to the miserable inclement weather on the day of tasting (although other wines from JP Moueix were unaffected.) However, after 10 minutes of aeration plus the 30 minutes of opening time before my arrival, it finally unfurls with blackberry, wild strawberry and sous-bois scents. The palate is medium-bodied, and more structured than out of barrel. It has a firmer grip than expected, with mulberry and bilberry fruit towards the finish and white pepper/fennel lingering on the aftertaste. Very fine, but I might stretch the drinking window.

The 2020 La Serre is a brooding, potent Saint-Émilion. Blackberry jam, cloves, licorice, leather, incense, tobacco and gravel add to an impression of gravitas and virile intensity that builds as it opens gradually in the glass. There's real weight and substance here.