Château Montrose, Le Saint-Estèphe de Montrose, 2010

Château Montrose, Le Saint-Estèphe de Montrose, 2010

  • icon-type Type

    Red

  • icon-year Year

    2010

  • icon-style Style

    Dry

  • icon-country Country

    France

  • icon-alcohollevel Alcohol level

    14%

  • icon-grapevariety Grape variety
    Merlot 61%, Cabernet Sauvignon 39%

Fresh on the nose, revealing some slightly toasted notes, the wine is both supple and fresh, with a round and full-bodied palate sustained by discreet acidity. Ready to drink now, Saint Estèphe de Montrose will keep for about another five years.

Produced on the exceptional terroir of Château Montrose and made in the château’s winery, Saint Estèphe de Montrose is the estate’s third wine and a traditional blend of classic Bordeaux grape varieties. Previously available only to the estate’s owners and employees, it uses wines from younger vines and lees wines.

The exacting selection process for Château Montrose and La Dame de Montrose, the first and second wines, combined with a relatively generous crop in 2010 meant that the team were able to make a larger quantity of Saint Estèphe de Montrose that year and hence offer it to customers.

Unlike 2009, a particularly hot year, the 2010 vintage benefited from generally mild and even temperatures from the start of the vegetation cycle through to harvest. Low rainfall prevailed throughout the vine growth and grape ripening periods, causing a relatively high level of hydric stress which is a feature of top Bordeaux vintages. The weather conditions meant that the crop could be harvested at perfect phenolic maturity during the ideal late-summer period, between 27 September and 15 October.

About Château Montrose

Château Montrose is a winery in the Saint-Estèphe appellation of the Bordeaux region of France. The wine produced here was classified as one of fourteen Deuxièmes Crus (Second Growths) in the original Bordeaux Wine Official Classification of 1855.

The vineyard is in Saint-Estèphe, the northernmost of the great Médoc communes. The soil in Montrose's 168 acres (0.68 km2) consists of gravel and black sand with a subsoil of clay and marl. They are planted with 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc.

Château Montrose produces two red wines: its eponymous grand vin, and a second wine named La Dame de Montrose. The 1970 vintage was placed third among the ten California and French red wines at the historic Judgment of Paris wine competition, which was won by the Americans.

Montrose wines tend to be deeply tannic and during excellent vintages can take up to 20 years to mature.

The 1990, 2009 and 2010 vintages were rated 100 points by Robert M. Parker, Jr.

Grape variety
Cabernet Sauvignon

Cabernet Sauvignon is one of the world's most widely recognised red wine grape varieties. It is grown in nearly every major wine producing country among a diverse spectrum of climates from Canada's Okanagan Valley to Lebanon's Beqaa Valley. Cabernet Sauvignon became internationally recognised through its prominence in Bordeaux wines where it is often blended with Merlot and Cabernet Franc. From France and Spain, the grape spread across Europe and to the New World where it found new homes in places like California's Santa Cruz Mountains, Paso Robles, Napa Valley, New Zealand's Hawkes Bay, South Africa's Stellenbosch region, Australia's Margaret River and Coonawarra regions, and Chile's Maipo Valley and Colchagua. For most of the 20th century, it was the world's most widely planted premium red wine grape until it was surpassed by Merlot in the 1990. However, by 2015, Cabernet Sauvignon had once again become the most widely planted wine grape.

Despite its prominence in the industry, the grape is a relatively new variety, the product of a chance crossing between Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc during the 17th century in southwestern France. Its popularity is often attributed to its ease of cultivation - the grapes have thick skins and the vines a re hardy and naturally low yielding, budding late to avoid frost and resistant to viticultural hazards such as rot and insects - and to its consistent presentation of structure and flavours which express the typical character ("typicity") of the variety. Familiarity and ease of pronunciation have helped to sell Cabernet Sauvignon wines to consumers, even when from unfamiliar wine regions.

The classic profile of Cabernet Sauvignon tends to be full-bodied wines with high tannins and noticeable acidity that contributes to the wine's aging potential. In cooler climates, Cabernet Sauvignon tends to produce wines with blackcurrant notes that can be accompanied by green bell pepper notes, mint and cedar which will all become more pronounced as the wine ages. In more moderate climates the blackcurrant notes are often seen with black cherry and black olive notes while in very hot climates the currant flavours can veer towards the over-ripe and "jammy" side. In parts of Australia, particularly the Coonawarra wine region of South Australia, Cabernet Sauvignon wines tend to have a characteristic eucalyptus or menthol notes.

The style of Cabernet Sauvignon is strongly influenced by the ripeness of the grapes at harvest. When more on the unripe side, the grapes are high in pyrazines and will exhibit pronounced green bell peppers and vegetal flavours. When harvested overripe the wines can taste jammy and may have aromas of stewed blackcurrants. Some winemakers choose to harvest their grapes at different ripeness levels in order to incorporate these different elements and potentially add some layer of complexity to the wine. When Cabernet Sauvignon is young, the wines typically exhibit strong fruit flavours of black cherries and plum. The aroma of blackcurrants is one of the most distinctive and characteristic element of Cabernet Sauvignon that is present in virtually every style of the wine across the globe. Styles from various regions and producers may also have aromas of eucalyptus, mint and tobacco. As the wines age they can sometimes develop aromas associated with cedar, cigar boxes and pencil shavings. In general New World examples have more pronounced fruity notes while Old World wines can be more austere with heightened earthy notes.

Alternative Names: Bidure, Bouche, Bordo, Bouchet, Burdeos Tinto, Lafite, Vidure

Merlot

Merlot is a dark blue-coloured wine grape variety, that is used as both a blending grape and for varietal wines. The name Merlot is thought to be a diminutive of merle, the French name for the blackbird, probably a reference to the colour of the grape. Its softness and "fleshiness", combined with its earlier ripening, makes Merlot a popular grape for blending with the sterner, later-ripening Cabernet Sauvignon, which tends to be higher in tannin.

Along with Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Shiraz Cabernet, Malbec and Petit Verdot, Merlot is one of the primary grapes used in Bordeaux wine, and it is the most widely planted grape in the Bordeaux wine regions. Merlot is also one of the most popular red wine varietals in many markets. This flexibility has helped to make it one of the world's most planted grape varieties. As of 2004, Merlot was estimated to be the third most grown variety at 260,000 hectares (640,000 acres) globally. The area planted to Merlot has continued to increase, with 266,000 hectares (660,000 acres) in 2015.

While Merlot is made across the globe, there tend to be two main styles. The "International style" favoured by many New World wine regions tends to emphasise late harvesting to gain physiological ripeness and produce inky, purple coloured wines that are full in body with high alcohol and lush, velvety tannins with intense, plum and blackberry fruit. While this international style is practiced by many Bordeaux wine producers, the traditional "Bordeaux style" of Merlot involves harvesting Merlot earlier to maintain acidity and producing more medium-bodied wines with moderate alcohol levels that have fresh, red fruit flavours (raspberries, strawberries) and potentially leafy, vegetal notes.

As a varietal wine, Merlot can make soft, velvety wines with plum flavours. While Merlot wines tend to mature faster than Cabernet Sauvignon, some examples can continue to develop in the bottle for decades. There are three main styles of Merlot - a soft, fruity, smooth wine with very little tannins; a fruity wine with more tannic structure; and, finally, a brawny, highly tannic style made in the profile of Cabernet Sauvignon. Some of the fruit notes commonly associated with Merlot include cassis, black and red cherries, blackberry, blueberry, boysenberry, mulberry, olallieberry and plum. Vegetable and earthy notes include black and green olives, cola nut, bell pepper, fennel, humus, leather, mushrooms, rhubarb and tobacco. Floral and herbal notes commonly associated with Merlot include green and black tea, eucalyptus, laurel, mint, oregano, pine, rosemary, sage, sarsaparilla and thyme. When Merlot has spent significant time in oak, the wine may show notes of caramel, chocolate, coconut, coffee bean, dill weed, mocha, molasses, smoke, vanilla and walnut.

Alternative Names: Alicante, Alicante Noir, Bégney, Bidal, Bidalhe, Bigney, Bigney rouge, Bini, Bini Ruzh, Bioney, Black Alicante, Bordeleza belcha, Crabutet, Crabutet Noir, Crabutet Noir merlau, Hebigney, Higney, Higney rouge, Langon, Lecchumskij, Médoc Noir, Merlau, Merlaut, Merlaut Noir, Merle, Merle Petite, Merleau, Merlô, Merlot Noir, Merlot black, Merlot blauer, Merlot crni, Merlot nero, Merlott, Merlou, Odzalesi, Odzhaleshi, Odzhaleshi Legkhumskii, Petit Merle, Picard, Pikard, Plan medre, Planet Medok, Plant du Médoc, Plant Médoc, Saint-Macaire, Same de la Canan, Same dou Flaube, Sème de la Canau, Sème Dou Flube, Semilhon rouge, Semilhoum rouge, Semilhoun rouge, Sémillon rouge, Sud des Graves, Vidal, Vini Ticinesi, Vitrai and Vitraille

About Saint-Estephe

Saint-Estèphe is one of the many famous Left Bank red wine appellations of Bordeaux, known for reds based on Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Situated at the northern end of the Haut-Médoc region on the gravelly western shores of the Gironde estuary, Saint-Estèphe is separated from its famous neighbour, Pauillac, only by a stream, yet there are significant differences between them. With 1,229 hectares (3036 acres) it accounts for 8 percent of the vineyard area of the Médoc.

Because Saint-Estèphe is marginally further from the gravel-bearing waters of the Garonne river, the soil here is far less stony than that found in the southern part of Haut-Médoc. Instead, a heavy clay and limestone base dominates this area, resulting in poorer-draining soils, delayed ripening and higher acidity levels in the wines.

These factors mean that, over the last few decades, many Saint-Estèphe's winemakers have increased their emphasis on Merlot, as it performs better on clay-rich soils than Cabernet Sauvignon. Because wines from here have traditionally been rather austere and tight in youth, Merlot also serves to soften the texture. Clay soils ability to retain moisture can come in handy during the occasional drought-like summers that have been known to bring a Bordeaux vintage to its knees. Other grapes permitted are Cabernet Franc, Carmenère, Côt (Malbec) and Petit Verdot.

The wines are richly coloured and deeply flavoured, and are known for their longevity. While most of the wine is produced under the cru bourgeois designation, it is the classed growths that continue to uphold the good reputation of Saint-Estèphe. These include the two second growths, Châteaux Cos d'Estournel and Montrose; third growth Château Calon-Ségur; fourth growth Château Lafon-Rochet; and fifth growth Château Cos Labory.

Regular price $480.00

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