2011 La Conseillante

2011 was clearly a challenge in terms of vintage conditions; when asked how it had been for them, Chateau Director Jean-Michel Laporte pointed to an eerie painting of a boat in stormy waters. In fact, we found this to be plush, soft, enticing and precise with pleasant freshness but also plenty of plummy Merlot fruit and just a touch of that buttery richness. The hard work implied by Jean-Michel’s gesture looks to have paid off.

The quintessential elegant style of Pomerol, the 2011 La Conseillante offers copious aromas of raspberries, mulberries and spring flowers. Medium-bodied with pure fruit, seamlessly integrated tannin, acidity and wood, and a soft, velvety textured finish, this classic effort is ethereal in its elegance and precision. Drink it over the next 10-15 years.

The 2011 La Conseillante has a relative light (at least compared to the previous two vintages) bouquet with aromas of black cherry, mint and cold stone. I appreciate the precision here even if it might be missing a little complexity. The palate is medium-bodied with slightly firm and obdurate tannin. This is a masculine La Conseillante, grippy and a bit curmudgeonly at the moment, although bottle age will leaven its grumpiness. Give this another two or three years in the cellar. Tasted at La Conseillante vertical at the property.

Shows the elegant, caressing fruit of the vintage, with supple cassis, blackberry and cherry compote notes, while harnessing the lively acidity and burying it nicely in toast- and black tea-infused wood. Features a classy, silky finish.-J.M.

This has evolved beautifully. The nose shows black truffles, berries and chocolate character. This is full-bodied, with very firm but polished tannins and a long, focused finish. Needs three to four years to soften, but a pretty, balanced wine for the vintage.

Drink 2017-2029 Deep black cherry. Aromatic, ripe fruit with a leaning toward cough linctus. Lovely freshness on the palate, juicy and fresh and lively and leaves your mouth revitalised. One of the most attractive Pomerols I've tasted so far in this vintage. Tannins well judged. (JH)

Good bright ruby. Deep, flinty aromas of blackberry, blueberry syrup, dark plum, violet and minerals. Lush, silky and sweet, with insidious vinosity keeping the lush blueberry and dark plum flavors fresh and delineated. Extremely suave wine with very refined tannins that spread out to cover the entire palate. Finishes very pure and very long, with crystalline lingering mineral and violet perfume. La Conseillante is always a sure bet but this topnotch effort in a difficult vintage like 2011 really deserves a round of applause. Ian D'Agata

The 2011 La Conseillante is impressive, and I suspect one of the gems in the vintage. Full-bodied, concentrated, and layered, with lots of spice, bouquet garni, graphite and assorted darker fruits, it has the classic elegance and polish of the estate and while still young, is drinking beautifully today. Enjoy bottles over the coming two decades.

The market in many ways passed over the 2011 after the fanfare of 2009 and 2010, but in fact there are plenty of excellent wines from a year that was very dry from April to September with some rains during harvest, making the harvest date critical. There are dry tannins that threaten the mid-palate, but it opens up extremely prettily to reveal dark, fleshy fruits - a classically balanced, very enjoyable wine. It has great aromatics after five minutes in the glass, linear and stretched out. Drinking Window 2019 - 2034
Tasted by Jane Anson (at Château La Conseillante, 01 Dec 2017)
Part of Top La Conseillante wines: 21 vintages tasted