Montrose is one of the greatest estates in Bordeaux. Its spectacular terroir in the prime sector of St Estephe has been brought to its pinnacle by owner Martin Bouygues and his team, leading to a run of sublime performances over a decade long; in a number of these vintages, it stands scrutiny as a potential ‘wine of the vintage’. Saint-Estephe is the Médoc’s most northerly commune, lying just beyond the confines of Pauillac, and stretches up the Gironde estuary, a mere 50 kilometre swim away from the Atlantic Ocean. The soil boasts a larger proportion of clay than the rest of the Médoc which, in the past, has lent the wines a traditional austerity requiring lengthier aging than their cousins further south. With climate change, however, where long periods of intense sunshine and near drought conditions have become the norm, vines planted in the commune’s moisture-retaining clay have thrived and few exemplify this better than the exceptional Chateau Montrose.