Chateau Montrose 2eme Cru Classe, Saint-Estephe 2021

The 2021 Montrose is an inward, brooding wine—classic Montrose, in other words, just attenuated in its intensity by the cool growing season. Spice, tobacco, cedar, menthol, scorched earth, gravel and a touch of new oak open over time, but the 2021 is really a wine that requires considerable cellaring to reach its potential. Then again, it is Montrose. Elegance meets power here.

Dark and milk chocolate, raspberries and red cherries on the nose, with a soft vanilla fragrance and some pink floral aspects. Great tension and direction, personality and verve, high acidity but balanced with the tangy red berry fruit – buzzy with energy and focus. Has precision and drive as well as power and concentration, but all with a lovely elegance and sense of style. Classy and classic, a brilliant wine in 2021.

62% Cabernet Sauvignon, 31% Merlot, 6% Cabernet Franc and 1% Petit Verdot.

This shows Montrose personality with blackberries, blackcurrants and graphite, along with some spices and cedar. Medium-bodied with very fine tannins and a juicy finish. Refined and balanced. Drink or hold.

The 2021 Montrose is not dissimilar to the sample I tasted from barrel two years earlier. It eschews the more complex and, one might say, "ambitious" aromatic profiles seen in recent years (for example, the spectacular 2020) and delivers a more streamlined version. Blackberry, crushed iris flower, graphite and light autumn leaf aromas become prettier as it opens in the glass. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannins and impressive depth, very silky in texture with excellent purity of fruit. The Cabernet is a little more expressive than it was out of barrel, gently building in the mouth toward a very harmonious finish. This is a delightful Montrose, not the best in recent years, but it has gained complexity during its élevage.