Château Montrose - St.-Estèphe 2020 (750ml)
Price: $255.00
| Producer | Château Montrose |
| Country | France |
| Region | Bordeaux |
| Subregion | St. Estephe |
| Varietal | Bordeaux Blend |
| Vintage | 2020 |
| Sku | 1005750 |
| Size | 750ml |
Wine Advocate: 100 Points
Surpassing the 2019 and rivaling the 2016 as this estate's finest vintage of the last few decades the 2020 Montrose is a monument in the making. Wafting from the glass with aromas of violets dark berries licorice loamy soil black truffle and subtle spices it's full-bodied deep and layered with a seamless elegantly muscular profile terrific purity and energy beautifully powdery tannins and a long resonant finish. It checks in at 13.7% alcohol the same as the superb 2009 but it is even deeper more vibrant and more complex than the 2009. This will be worth a special effort to seek out and only confirms Montrose's status as one of the contemporary Médoc's leading estates and a de facto first growth.
Vinous: 99 Points
The 2020 Montrose was bottled in July 2022. The alcohol is 13.4% a whole degree less than the previous year but with the same concentration (IPT is 80). It has a fabulous bouquet that delivers on all that promise from when I finally tasted the wine around a year earlier from barrel a cornucopia of blackberry bilberry crushed stone Indian ink and loamy/undergrowth scents. Very mercurial in the glass it seems to shapeshift with every minute. The palate is medium-bodied with such a precise entry. This is far more detailed than either the 2019 or 2018 a symmetrical Montrose with unerring detail and mineralité its silky texture belying the power underneath. This is unequivocally a brilliant wine and a benchmark in recent years. Contender for wine of the vintage. - By Neal Martin on December 2022 The 2020 Montrose is epic. Dark rich and brooding the 2020 possesses remarkable intensity and yet it is somehow not excessively heavy. Time in the glass brings out the wine's more elegant sophisticated side. All the elements are so well-balanced. Red/purplish fruit lavender rose petal gravel and spice are all accented by veins of intense minerality that lend shape and energy. The 2020 is a modern-day classic for Montrose and one of the great wines of the Left Bank. - By Antonio Galloni on December 2022
jdJames Suckling: 99 Points
The nose is really fantastic with lead pencil shavings iron shavings blackcurrants and lavender. Full- to medium-bodied with ultra-fine tannins that run the length of the wine. Wonderful persistence and personality. Juicy and savory finish. Always classy and sophisticated at the end. Organically grown grapes. 71% cabernet sauvignon 23% merlot 6% cabernet franc and 1% petit verdot. Best after 2028.
Jane Anson: 99 Points
This is up there with the best wines that I have tasted in the vintage. Beautifully balanced classically refined but profound delivering nuanced waves of cassis blackberry puree peony pomegrante mandarin peel graphite smoked sandalwood incense. There is exceptional softness yet density to the tannins such a confident structure overall and the build up on the tannins through the palate is so slow and careful that it is only at the end of play that you become aware of just how big a vintage it is. Clear ageing potential easy to love very easy to recommend. 12% press wine. Vincent Decup technical director. 40% of production in the 1st wine.
The Wine Independent: 98+ Points
A blend of 71% Cabernet Sauvignon 23% Merlot 5% Cabernet Franc and 1% Petit Verdot the 2020 Montrose is deep garnet-purple in color. It slowly emerges from the glass with profound notions of creme de cassis chocolate-covered cherries licorice and roses followed by suggestions of cast-iron pan and fragrant soil. The medium-bodied palate delivers many tightly knit layers of mineral black berries and floral notes with a solid backbone of firm grainy tannins and lively acidity finishing on a lingering ferrous note.
Decanter: 98 Points
Scented and perfumed on the nose with a delicate charm. Striking full round juicy and crisp - this has bite and a sense of strictness in the frame that keeps things relatively narrow at this point but comes with excellent definition of elements. Great classicism with lots of freshness. Really very seductive the black and blue fruit graphite and touch of smoke grow and expand with richness and intensity but staying friendly at the same time thanks to the soft sweetness and juicy acidity. I just love the interplay between being serious and generous structured but racy intense yet precise. Such purity and focus. Energetic and pent up this is raring to go to show off its beauty but just being held back. Effortless complex and compelling. I loved it a tiny bit less than the 2019 but it?s stil
Jeb Dunnuck: 98+ Points
The Grand Vin 2020 Château Montrose is brilliant and unquestionably in the lineup of the truly greats from this château including the 1989 1990 2009 2010 2015 2018 and 2019. With an IPT of 80 and a natural alcohol of 13.4% its deep saturated purple hue is followed by quintessential Saint-Estèphe notes of pure cassis graphite tobacco leaf acacia flowers and loamy earth. Full-bodied concentrated and powerful it nevertheless stays incredibly pure elegant and seamless with perfectly ripe tannins. A blend of 71% Cabernet Sauvignon 23% Merlot 5% Cabernet Franc and the rest Petit Verdot is shines even today for its purity and balance and it should be in the early stages of its prime drink window within a decade.
Wine Spectator: 95 Points
Gorgeously rendered for the vintage with a well-endowed core of loganberry mulberry and cassis flavors that roll through and are laced with a cast iron hint while tobacco warm stone and black tea accents swirl in the background. The long authoritative finish steadily melds the fruit with the cast iron edge. Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. Best from 2026 through 2040.
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