Tasting Notes and Scores
While I have a slight preference for the 2009, the 2010 Château Montrose is an undeniably great wine that has everything you could want from this terroir, and I wouldn't be surprised to see it merit even a higher rating in another decade. Blackberries, currants, licorice, spicy herbs, and lead pencil are just some of the nuances here, and it hits the palate with full-bodied richness, a concentrated, layered, powerful mouthfeel, present tannins, and a great, great finish. It benefits from a decant and will probably have another 75 years of life, but I'd say we’re clearly in the early stages of its prime drinking window. May 2023
Jeb Dunnuck
Rock solid, displaying a dense core of plum, steeped currant and braised fig fruit, with racy charcoal and ganache notes. Intensely chalky, offering flesh and refinement to match the bracing minerality, this shows hints of grilled savory, iron, warm paving stone and bitter orange on the riveting finish. Should age very slowly. Best from 2019 through 2038.
– James Molesworth (WineSpectator.com, March 2013)
Wine Spectator
A perfumed and pure Montrose, with lots of currants, berries and spices that evolve to chocolate and light coffee. Full body, with super racy tannins and bright and clean finish. Very fine and structured. A balance and freshness to it all as well as beautiful form and tension. Try in 2018.
– jamessuckling.com, November 2013
James Suckling
Quality 955 | Brand 992 | Economics 960 |
Quality: Predicted life of 14 years, one of the longest drinking windows in its peer group, which averages 9 years
Brand: Strong restaurant presence, featuring on 34 of the world's top wine lists, including Tru
Economics: Above its peer group average price of £52 for the 2010 vintage
Production:
- www.wine-lister.com June 2017
Wine Lister
Tasted blind at the Southwold Bordeaux 2010 tasting. Chateau Montrose can be so curmudgeonly in its youth that in blind tastings, it can seem like appraising an ogre in a beauty contest. That's what happened here, when it really threw me with its introspective pencil-box inspired nose that simply tells you to bugger off and not come back for at least a decade. The palate here is a mixture of red and black fruit with saturated tannins. This is a classic Montrose with a persistent tarry aftertaste. Re-tasting the wine after a few minutes it begins to unwind and merits a more lenient score. Tasted January 2014.
– eRobertParker.com, Mar 2014
Neal Martin
2nd Growth St Estèphe (64% harvest, 45hl/ha, 13.7%) [65CS/29M/5CF/1PV] Beautifully gracious nose, very marked mineral and fruit balance, expressive already, complex, complete, fine; beautifully balanced, firm, finely tannic concentrated wine, full of fresh ripe fruit and a very marked minerality; long, seamless, polished St Estèphe, rich and sappy with that vital acidity defining and tempering the black fruit ripeness; long, dense, spicy and effortless, with an almost nutty quality to the powdery fine tannins and wonderful aromatic length; dense, direct, linear, perfectly defined wine; so fine in texture that accessibility at 10 years seems not inconceivable! 2022-45+ [M.Schuster, Bordeaux Mar/Apr 2011]
Michael Schuster
This is considered to be among the greatest vintages ever made in Montrose, right up with the 1929, 1945, 1947, 1959, 1961, 1989, 1990 and 2009. Harvest was October 15 to 17. The wine has really come on since I last tasted it, and it needs at least another 10 years of cellaring. The blend was 53% Cabernet Sauvignon, 37% Merlot, 9% Cabernet Franc and 1% Petit Verdot. The wine is opaque black/blue, with an incredible nose of blueberry and blackberry liqueur, with hints of incense, licorice, and acacia flowers. Tannins are incredibly sweet and very present. The wine is full-bodied, even massive, with great purity, depth and a finish that goes on close to a minute. This is a 50- to 75-year-old wine that will repay handsomely those with good aging genes. (Note: The Chateau Montrose website gives an aging potential of 2020-2100.)
– Robert Parker (Wine Advocate #214, Aug 2014)
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