Chateau Tertre Roteboeuf, Saint-Emilion Grand Cru 2017

The 2017 Tertre-Rôteboeuf is once again one of the wines of the year. Deep, unctuous and concentrated, the 2017 is wonderfully rich from start to finish. Inky dark cherry, chocolate, licorice and cloves all open up in the glass. The 2017 is going to need a few years to soften, as the tannins are pretty imposing, and yet all the elements are in place for it to develop into a great wine. Tertre-Rôteboeuf remains one of the most distinctive wines in all of Bordeaux. Wow.

One of the wines of the vintage is the 2017 Chateau Tertre Roteboeuf, which has much more fruit, opulence, and sexiness than just about every other wine out there. Based on 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Franc from a fabulous terroir on the famed Saint-Emilion Cote Pavie, it reveals a saturated purple color as well as awesome notes of black raspberries, cassis, jammy blackberries, white chocolate, and tobacco. With plenty of classy oak, full-bodied richness, and a dense, powerful style on the palate, it needs at least 4-6 years of bottle age and will keep for 15-30 years or more. It’s a stunning effort from the genius of François Mitjavile.

Deep garnet-purple colored, the 2017 Le Tertre Roteboeuf offers up gorgeous wild blueberries, crushed blackcurrants and redcurrants notes with touches of lavender, violets, Sichuan pepper and cloves plus a waft of anise. The medium to full-bodied palate is very firm with ripe, grainy tannins and wonderful freshness and depth, finishing very long with some exotic spices coming through.

The 2017 Tertre-Rôteboeuf was picked towards the end of September (François Mitjavile said he was getting too old to remember!) The bouquet is a real doppelgänger for a Burgundy, perhaps something from Morey-Saint-Denis. It is certainly very pure, not as flamboyant as the previous two vintages but intense and focused. The palate is medium-bodied with fine, grainy tannin. I love the salinity of this 2017...you can feel the mouth tingling long after the wine has departed. The acidity is very well judged, the oak seamlessly integrated and barely perceptible, a feat that I do not think any other Saint-Émilion achieves to the same degree as here. There are notes of sea salt and black pepper towards the finish, just a hint of tobacco. Both delicious and cerebral, this is a Tertre-Rôteboeuf that will benefit from four or five years in bottle.