| Region | |
|---|---|
| Subregion | France > Bordeaux > Left Bank > Margaux |
| Colour | Red |
| Type | Still |
This bottle of 2015 du Tertre was showing a bit of brettanomyces that smothered what in the past has constituted a fine Margaux. Subsequently, I opened another bottle, sighted, that was more in line with previous encounters, offering bilberry and blackberry on the nose and a light graphite note on the palate. This is a wine that I will track closely. Tasted blind at the Southwold 2015 Bordeaux tasting.
A wine with definition and refinement. Hints of tobacco and chocolate. Full body, super fine and flavorful. Juicy and savory. The walnut and spice on the end is gorgeous.
The 2015 du Tertre is medium to deep garnet-purple in color with a nose of baked cherries, blackberries and dried herbs with a waft of potpourri and fallen leaves. The medium-bodied palate is delicately styled with perfumed red and black fruits supported by firm, grainy tannins and it finishes with a refreshing herbal lift. 2019 - 2034
Tasted blind. Compost nose and lots of leaf mulch on the palate. It certainly has character! Rather marked acidity. Dry end.
Drink 2024-2032
This 52 hectare Margaux classed growth is from the same owner and wine making team as Chateau Giscours. It is planted with 43% Cabernet Sauvignon, 33% merlot, 19% Cabernet Franc and 5% Petit Verdot. Medium ruby colour with a floral, forward nose of cherry and cassis. The palate is sweet, supple and rounded with no hard edges giving a forward structure that will allow the forest fruit character to shine through for early drinking.
Fragrant spring violets the start of the palate is bright and fresh a bilberry bramble mix. Richer in the middle the fruit is ripe fleshy with fine velvety tannins dense black fruits. Lighter at the back and the finish has freshness and good length.
If you wanted to bottle the quintessence of Margaux in 2015, this lovely, aromatic wine would
be an excellent candidate. Pretty, floral and feminine with more tannin and backbone than
you think at first and fresh, tangy acidity. Very appealing indeed. Drink: 2020-28
With some coffee and spice on the nose and decent density of charry fruit this is a good stab at the vintage and a nice,
balanced wine. There are touches of green and I suspect that the fruit wasn’t entirely all ripe but these are interesting
details as opposed to faults.
The 2015 du Tertre showed well in barrel and it continues to do so in bottle. It has a clean and fresh bouquet with blackberry, bilberry, cedar and light iodine aromas that are well defined. The palate is medium-bodied with grainy tannin. It is quite structured in style for du Tertre, perhaps a nod to Pauillac in terms of its graphite note toward the finish. It has closed down a little since I tasted it in October at the UGC tasting but it will open up next summer. Good potential here, but you might have to wait longer than for other vintages of du Tertre. Anticipated maturity: 2022 - 2040.
The 2015 du Tertre is a blend of 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% each of Petit Verdot, Cabernet Franc and Merlot, picked 9 September until 9 October, matured in around 47% new oak. The nose is impressive, more so than the 2014 twelve months ago with tightly-wound but very focused raspberry, cranberry and iodine aromas that gently unfurl with aeration. The palate is medium-bodied with good structure, impressive depth, a du Tertre with more substance and body than recent vintages. There is precision with satisfying length on the cedar and pencil lead finish. Alexandre Van Beek might have produced his best du Tertre to date. Drink 2025-2045.
Mid purplish crimson. Very well-married elements on the nose already. Sweet, very polished palate entry. Perhaps very slightly too sweet for refreshment value? But a well-made wine without excesses. Quite forward.
Drink 2022-2035
Dark crimson. A meaty note to this charmer. Lots of freshness too. A fairly early developer with masses of sweetness but a good herald of the vintage. Perhaps not the great concentration of tannins for a long life.
Drink 2021-2030
