Montrose 2009

Harvested between September 17 and October 5, this wine seems always open for business, so to speak, much like the great 1982s. The summer of 2009 was very hot and dry, which got the harvest off to a reasonably early start. The blend was 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 29% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Franc and 1% Petit Verdot. Jean Bernard Delmas' goal was to find perfect equilibrium between freshness and concentration, given its incredible opulence and the voluptuous character this vintage offered. That's what this wine has in abundance. With an astounding dense purple color, the wine has velvety, sweet tannins, and an extremely open-knit and opulent blueberry, blackberry and creme de cassis nose. There is scorched earth, vanilla and, again, telltale licorice and spice. It is unctuously textured - thicker and juicier than the 2010 and more forward. This wine should come into its own in another five years. And again, it has at least 50+ years of aging potential. Drink 2019-2069.

A brilliant wine that stands out as one of the high points of the vintage, the 2009 Montrose unwinds in the glass with a rich and incipiently complex bouquet of dark berries, cigar wrapper and loamy soil, framed by a deftly judged touch of new oak. Full-bodied, broad and enveloping, it's a velvety, layered and impressively dynamic wine that's deep and concentrated, exhibiting terrific balance and a long, resonant finish. While it is still five or six years away from showing all its cards, I have drunk this benchmark for contemporary Montrose with immense pleasure three times this year. In style, it's hard to find an obvious comparison (and I have drunk Montrose back to 1895), but I would be inclined to invoke a fresher, more complete and more powerful version of the estate's very successful 2003. Drink 2025 - 2060.

Blueberries, currants and Indian spices on the nose follow through to a full body, with ultra-fine tannins and a lovely finish. It's intense and refined. A beauty. It goes on for minutes. Speechless. Better and cleaner than the great 1990. Try in 2022.

Deep garnet-purple in color, the 2009 Montrose prances out with showy notes of blackcurrant preserves, blackberry pie, dark chocolate, anise, and violets with touches of menthol and fallen leaves. The medium to full-bodied is jam packed with impactful black fruit preserves, supported by firm, ripe, grainy tannins and plenty of freshness, finishing with epic length and wonderfully fragrant.

The 2009 Montrose has a taut, brilliantly defined bouquet with intense black fruit laced with crushed stone, forest floor, crushed rose petals and a touch of slate. Magnificent. The palate is medium-bodied with firm tannin, good depth and grip, plenty of graphite locked in here with a bravura finish that indicates that this Saint-Estèphe is in for the long-haul. It may well deserve a higher score as it evolves in bottle. Everything you wish for in a Montrose. Tasted blind at Farr Vintners’ 2009 Bordeaux tasting.

A standout wine of the vintage, Montrose 2009 rivals and at times beats the first growths. Still a deep ruby-purple colour in the glass, the fruit on the nose is powerful and dark yet impressively fresh witha graphite edge to notes of blackcurrant and cedar. Smoky on the palate with hugely intense yet focused cassis fruit, this is structured and dense. Grippy and earthy as Montrose should be, it has as much character of the property as it does the vintage. One of the tightest wines at this stage, it deserves more time in bottle but with food it is already delicious if you like a bit of bite in your wine. Unerring and profound on the finish, this may well warrant one extra point once it hits its apex. It will take over a decade to get there, and should be one of the longest-lived 2009s in Bordeaux.

Cuts right to the heart of great St Estèphe, dark fleshy fruits, ambitious, just a touch of exuberance, but held back by bitter black chocolate, espresso, olive tapenade, eucalyptus, mint leaf, blackberry and damson fruits. Right up there showcasing what 2009 can offer Jean Bernard Delmas was director at the time, and he is bringing some First Growth magic. Can be opened now with a long carafe, but is built to last.

Very dark purple. Fresh and concentrated. Really very luscious and beautifully balanced. This is looking most impressive now. Very Montrose and very 2009. Rich and ripe. 14%
Drink 2018-2040

Always powerful and backward, Montrose is one of the great traditional names of Bordeaux and is regarded as having one of the finest terroirs of all Bordeaux - the Latour of St Estephe. Winemaking in the past has not exactly been "state of the art" and the property had a reputation of making truly great wine only when nature allowed (eg 1982, 1989, 1990, 2000, 2003 and 2005). Montrose has recently changed hands and the new owners know that they are buying a vineyard with the potential to regularly make one of Bordeaux's greatest wines. The legendary Jean-Bernard Delmas (formerly of Haut Brion) is now in charge of winemaking and believes this to be one of the greatest wines that he has ever made - and remember that he was responsible for 1989 Haut Brion! M Delmas compares it to Montrose 1961 and 1982. Less fleshy and more precise than the great 1990 and 2003. 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 29% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Franc, 1% Petit Verdot. It was felt that it was important here not to pick too late to preserve the freshness. A big black, inky colour, thick, dense and powerful with succulence and flesh yet classic structure and some very good, strong tannins balancing the richness of the fruit. Huge concentration but with a great backbone of tannin. Not in the style of 2003, this is 2005 plus. Classic Bordeaux. Potentially great. "Paris not Las Vegas."

The nose is packed with rich ripe fruit all very black fruit in character. Sweet plum mingles with blackcurrant enriched by sloe and given a sensuous fleshiness by the dark chocolate and liquorice that lie beneath. The tannins are structure but ripe, layers of flavour ensure complexity with towards the back a wonderful combination of power yet racy sleek elegance.Drink 2022-2050.

It's hard to believe when you taste it, but the 2009 Montrose contains no press wine at all, apparently. Hard to believe because it is a massively tannic wine, structured, dense, hunkered down, but with freshness and acidity to match. There's a lot of oak on show here too, but the wine isn't over-ripe (compare Cos down the road) and should develop beautifully in bottle. 25+ years.

Black red, smoky cassis nose with fine Cabernet spice, quite restrained yet full of power, a really precise and true vineyard wine, superb middle sweetness, a grandly classic wine. Drink 2019-45.

For the very ripe vintage this has a herbal and wet earth nose that's very cool. Then on the palate there’s a ton of ripe cassis, polished fine tannins and a tremendous freshness powering the very long dry finish. One of the stars of the vintage that's just beginning to enter its best form. This is normally a perfect wine but perhaps not a perfect bottle? Drink or hold. (Horizontal Tasting, London, 2019)