2020 Montrose - The Winner From Last Week's Southwold Tasting
Last week’s Southwold blind tasting – an in-bottle retrospective of the 2020 Bordeaux vintage – showcased some fantastic wines. There was, however, one winner, Chateau Montrose. It is a magnificent wine, clearly of First Growth quality in 2020 and comes very highly recommended. We are, therefore, delighted to have some cases of magnums to offer.
Even before this tasting, Montrose was showing incredible promise. Antonio Galloni had already given it 99 points, and William Kelley a perfect 100. For the latter, this is “a monument in the making” and “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”.
Expectations were high, and more than lived up to them. 2020 perfectly suited the type of Montrose, being structured, classic and savoury, and in this context, it shone. Once the results were tallied, Montrose had the highest average score among the many experienced tasters present. It’s a remarkable performance that makes it an essential buy from this impressive vintage.
Do take a look and let us know if you would like to secure a case or two:
2020 Chateau Montrose
8cs mags (3*150cl OWC) @ £885 per case in bond
100 points William Kelley
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. (2023)
www.robertparker.com Drink 2030-2100
99 points Antonio Galloni
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. (2022)
www.vinous.com
Offered subject to final confirmation. Available in the UK in around 12 weeks. Offer expires 1st March 2024.
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