2022 Château Montrose

The 2022 Montrose has a wonderful bouquet, beautifully defined with mineral-rich blackberry and bilberry fruit and a light touch of the Gironde Estuary in the background. The palate is medium-bodied with finely chiselled tannins, well judged acidity, focused and poised, with a finish that is just quintessential Saint-Estèphe. The pedigree of this wine is so obvious. Tasted blind at the Southwold tasting in London.

From barrel, I wrote that 2022 Montrose was so compelling that assigning it a bracketed score seemed a mere formality, and so it has proven. Unwinding in the glass with a deep and brooding bouquet of cassis, wild blueberries, violets, pencil shavings and burning embers, it's full-bodied, deep and dense, somehow marrying all the tannic authority that has long been such a signature of Montrose with a suavity and purity that represents the quintessence of contemporary Bordeaux. The broad, palate-staining finish lasts for more than a minute. This is a profound young wine that readers aren't going to want to miss.

The first of its kind, the 2022 Château Montrose Blanc is a richer, more Semillon-dominated white that includes 40% Sauvignon Gris, all aged a year in 40% new French oak. While most whites from Bordeaux these days lean more toward the Loire in their racy style, this goes more toward a great Montrachet and has a beautiful sense of richness and depth in its stone fruits, white flowers, and spicy nuances, with nicely integrated oak in the background. I love its overall balance, and it’s medium to full-bodied, with terrific vibrancy and freshness, as well as a great finish. It's a classy, serious white that will shine on the dinner table. Given its depth and concentration, I suspect this will age for 10-15 years, although I see no reason to delay gratification either.