Love this wine, with its punchy stamp of St Estèphe, with powerful black fruits and fresh acidities, both enticing and appealing while extremely unfussy. The tannins are serious and a little chunky, but have plenty of character and there is appealing gunsmoke and salinity on the finish. 3.69ph, 45% new oak.
Tasted Nov 2022 - Jane Anson Inside Bordeaux

Things keep getting better and better here and 2020 is no exception. The nose, with its spicy personality also shows forest leaf, tobacco, pepper, black and red fruits and earthy nuances. On the palate, the wine is rich, round and ripe. It's packed with sweet, fresh, polished, juicy red berries on the mid-palate and in the open, soft textured finish. Forward in style, this should drink quite well with just 3-4 years of aging. 92-94

Bitter chocolate, blackberries, dried mint and tobacco leaves on the nose. Firm and linear, with a medium body and tight tannins. Tangy acidity. Sharp and clear cut. 54% merlot, the highest percentage ever, the rest cabernet sauvignon with a touch of petit verdot. Better in 2025.

The 2020 Ormes de Pez has held on to its Pauillac-inspired bouquet with touches of pencil shaving littered amongst the tightly-knit black fruit, then brine aromas percolating up with aeration (I give this 20 minutes to open). The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannins, cohesive yet maybe just missing the mid-palate weight and concentration of say, the Cazes's Lynch Bages or Haut-Batailley. Fresh and saline on the finish. Give it two or three years in bottle.

Drink Date
2024 - 2040

Reviewed by Lisa Perrotti-Brown

Composed of 54% Merlot, 38% Cabernet Sauvignon, 4% Cabernet Franc and 4% Petit Verdot, to be aged for around 16 months in French oak barriques, 45% new, the 2020 Ormes de Pez has an alcohol of 13.17%, a pH of 3.69 and an IPT of 79. Deep garnet-purple colored, it springs from the glass with notes of plum preserves, blueberry compote and Morello cherries, plus hints of graphite, wild mushrooms and sautéed herbs. The medium-bodied palate delivers plenty of herbs-laced black fruits with a pleasant chewiness to the texture and lovely freshness, finishing on a lingering fragrant-earth note.

Lots of plums, blackcurrants, tobacco, and loamy soil notes make up the bouquet of the 2020 Château Ormes De Pez, and it’s medium-bodied, with some chocolaty background oak, good purity of fruit, and ripe tannins. I don’t see any reason this shouldn’t easily be an outstanding Saint-Estèphe and drink well for 15-20 years.

The 2020 Ormes de Pez is a very pretty, fragrant Saint-Estèphe that will drink well right out of the gate. Crushed flowers, sweet red berry fruit, mint, spice and white pepper lend terrific brightness throughout. The 2020 is not terribly complex, but it is very easy to like and drink. Charming.

(54% M, 38% CS, 5% CF, 4% PV; 13.17% ABV; 45% new)
Fine nose of blackberry fruit; medium-full, vibrant in acidity, very fine in tannin; brisk ripe red-fruit flavor; juicy and appetizing, long and remarkably graceful for a St-Estèphe, Merlot-supple and with lovely length. This will be deliciously drinkable, and without too long a wait. A most satisfying Ormes de Pez. 2025–40+.

Full bottle 1,340 g. Cask sample taken 16 April. 54% Merlot, 38% Cabernet Sauvignon, 4% Cabernet Franc, 4% Petit Verdot. Merlot harvest began on 15 September, nine days earlier than in 2019, and continued until 20 September. The Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot were harvested on 21 and 22 September, respectively. Cabernet Sauvignon was picked from 20 to 28 September. 16 months' ageing in barriques (45% new) envisaged.
Dark crimson, but much paler than the Pauillacs from this Cazes stable. Aromatic and medium concentration of fruit with some stoniness on the palate. Marked tannins and acidity but nothing excessive. Classic St-Estèphe. Cool fruit and freshness. Very dry finish. I should imagine that this will be far from the most opulent wine of the appellation but it's very sincere and correct and I like the menthol-fresh finish.