Château Montrose 2017 Saint Estèphe 2e Grand Cru Classé

Parker: The 2017 Montrose is a blend of 76% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc and 1% Petit Verdot. Deep purple-black in color, the nose is a little closed at first, but with coaxing, it opens to reveal remarkable earth and exotic spice notes of crushed rocks, black truffles, star anise, cassia and fenugreek over a core of crème de cassis, blackberry preserves, violets and blueberry pie with touches of cigar box, charcuterie and black soil. Medium-bodied with a rock-solid frame and an exquisitely ripe, very fine-grained texture, it has wonderful freshness with electric energy and a very long, minerally finish. Possessing great poise and intensity, this is one of the greatest Montrose's I have tasted!There was hardly any frost at Château Montrose this year, because of the vineyard's proximity to the estuary. Harvest took place from September 12 to September 29. These final blends were finished in January. “We’ve been working towards more precision, in the vineyards and with the blending," communications manager Hélène Brochet commented. "It was a shorter maceration this year with softer extraction. This vintage we were able to put what we wanted in the wines, using 82 different blending components. Now we have smaller vats and more of them to be able to separate and create more blending material for a more complex wine."