2017 Château La Conseillante

The 2017 La Conseillante has firmed up in recent months. This bottle was decanted for a couple of hours, and to be frank, I had reckoned on it being more open. More fool me! This is tight and intense on the nose, beautifully defined yet clearly shutting down. The firmness that I alluded to in my previous note is more accentuated, and as such, I would give this several years before broaching.

Softly nuanced aromatics with gorgeous floral notes and fine aromatics. This is less structured and with a cooler vintage character than the vintages of either side of the 2017 but there is so much pleasure to be had here, finesse, personality, salinity, but there is also concentration here as it opens; Lovely wine easily one of the highlights of 2017 vintage. 70% new oak, 30% one year barrels. Harvest September 5 to 29. A year where much of Bordeaux was impacted by frost, but here at La Conseillante they lost just one small plot at the bottom of the vineyard, leaving yields of 34hl/ha.

Tasted blind. Deep ruby colour. Very minty on the nose, with hints of white flowers and cassis. Bracing tannins, a firm, muscular style. Highly vibrant and squeaky-clean blackcurrant fruit drive the palate. Vertical with lots of energy but the minty fruit is very different to everything else at this tasting and perhaps muted my score. (TP)