Ormes de Pez 2017

The 2017 Les Ormes de Pez has a tightly would bouquet with tertiary, slightly ferrous red berry fruit, perhaps needing a little more cohesion that should evolve with bottle age. The palate is medium-bodied with a balsamic-tinged entry, moderate depth, good density but just missing a little flair and nuance on what feels like a conservative finish. Drink 2023-2035.

A beautiful red with aromas and flavors of plums, spices and burnt chocolate. Medium-bodied, creamy and fruity. Juicy finish. A blend of 51% merlot, 42% cabernet sauvignon, 6% cabernet franc and 1% petit verdot. Drink or hold.

Medium to deep garnet-purple colored, the 2017 Ormes de Pez features black cherries and cassis notions over a core of fragrant earth, stewed tea and tobacco plus a waft of forest floor. Medium-bodied, the palate is packed with juicy black fruit with a grainy texture and long, mineral-tinged finish.
Drink Date
2020 - 2030

Ormes has managed another good vintage after a run of them. This is a lovely wine and a buy for me. Succulent, bristling and charming, it has juicy brambled fruit extraction and tension. It doesn't take itself too seriously, just asking to be loved. The fruit spectrum is rich with blueberries and damsons, with integrity and a swirl of vanilla bean oak. Includes 6% Cabernet Franc in the blend. No need to wait too long for this. 45% new oak.
Drinking Window 2022 - 2035.

Very dark crimson. The aroma is equal parts black fruit and graphite. On the palate, some sweetness of oak spice but there's a slight lack of fruit richness on the palate so that overall it is relatively light. Persistent though, and the tannins are fine enough not to dominate.
Drink 2024-2032

42% Cabernet Sauvignon, 51% Merlot, 6% Cabernet Franc, 1% Petit Verdot in 45% new oak. Medium-deep purple in colour, this has a muscular and rich nose of cassis and toasty new oak. The palate is chunky with ripe but chewy tannins framing the compact but juicy black fruit core. This is quite big and structured, but the tannins fall away nicely towards the finish to allow the cool black cherry and plum to shine through with the toasty, generously creamy oak. Polished on the finish, this is a well made wine that will offer as much approachability as any wine from St Estephe in 2017.

Concentrated rich black fruits the nose has depth the palate richness lots of black cherry and black currants. The tannins are structured but ripe the sweetness at the back-giving way to fresh minty black fruits. 2024-34

Chiselled and firm, this is a stern wine with a very forceful demeanour and a slight touch of greenness which might not melt away. I like it a lot, but you will have to be forgiving in due course.