Chateau Montrose 1996 St. Estephe Trophy Bordeaux Wine Review
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- Опубліковано 10 вер 2024
- The name Montrose can from the fact that, according to local legend, when the heather was in flower, the hillsides turned pink (rose in french). So sailors on the river who saw a pink hill referred to the area as Mont Rose.
Chateau Montrose was originally owned in the mid 18th century by Alexandre de Segur, who also at that time owned Chateau Mouton, Chateau Lafite, and Chateau Latour. He gave the property to his son, Nicolas Alexandre. At the time, the estate was known as La Lande de l’Escargeon. Alexandre sold the property in 1778 to Etienne Theodore Dumoulin. In 1861, Chateau Montrose was sold to Mathieu Dollfus who then sold to Charmolue family in 1896. Chateau Montrose remained in the Charmolue family for three generations. During the ownership period of the Charmoule family, Chateau Montrose became one of the first Bordeaux estates to bottle their own wine.
Montrose has been producing one of the best wines in all of Bordeaux for centuries. In fact, the inspiration to purchase the estate by the Bouygues brothers came after tasting the exalted 1989 Chateau Montrose. Thomas Bouygues stated that the wine was so good, if he ever had the chance to purchase the famous estate, he would buy it. In 2006, that is exactly what took place.
In May 2006, Jean Louis Charmolue sold the estate in 2006 to Martin Bouygues and Thomas Bouygues. For the Bouygues family, it was the perfect addition to their massive business portfolio, which includes Bouygues Telecom and Bouygues Construction.
In fact, they soon added a neighboring Bordeaux property to their holdings a short time later, Chateau Tronquoy Lalande. One of the first moves made by the Bouygues brothers was hiring key personal. They hired Jean-Bernard Delmas, the previous director of Chateau Haut Brion.
Herve Berland as the Gerant (previously at Mouton)…left in late 2022
Chateau Montrose obtains as much of its energy through the use of solar, wind, and water with the use of sophisticated geothermal energy systems.
The vineyard of Chateau Montrose is planted to 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 32% Merlot, 6% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot with vines that are on average close to 40 years of age.
However, the goal of the estate is to increase the percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon to as much as 65% of the vineyard plantings. Chateau Montrose has old Cabernet Sauvignon vines, some of which were planted back in 1932 that are located in the front of the estate, close to the water.
The 95-hectare vineyard of Chateau Montrose has a hillside terroir of deep gravel, with sand and clay soil. Of those hectares, 88 to 90 hectares are always in production.
In 2010, Chateau Montrose purchased 22 hectares of vineyards from their neighboring estate, Chateau Phelan Segur. Interestingly, all 22 hectares of those vines were originally part of the vineyards of Montrose. The purchased vines consisted of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Cabernet Franc. This additional acreage increased the vineyard of Chateau Montrose up to its current size of 95 hectares.
It is hoped that before 2025, 100% of Chateau Montrose will be farmed organically. There is one more special point worth taking note of regarding the vineyards of Chateau Montrose, their 95 hectares are a single parcel, which is relatively unique in Bordeaux.
To produce the wine of Chateau Montrose, vinification takes place in 59 temperature-controlled, stainless steel tanks of various sizes.
The vats range in size. These 59 tanks allow for more precision during the vinification of Chateau Montrose. The wine of Chateau Montrose is aged in an average of 60% new, French oak barrels for about 18 months. There is a second wine, Le Dame de Montrose. Interestingly, Chateau Montrose was one of the first estates in Bordeaux to make a second wine, as they first began making a second wine in about 1860.
The wines are usually divided as follows, 40% of the harvest is placed in the Grand Vin, which gives you on average, 15,000 cases per vintage. To give you an idea of how things are different today at Chateau Montrose, close to 30,000 cases were produced in 1982 of the Grand Vin.
That means today, the production of Montrose is half of what it was. 30% of the crop is used for the second wine and the remaining 20% is either placed in the third wine or sold off in bulk.
1996 vintage: 76% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc and 1% Petit Verdot
I personally love Montrose. Opened a 2017 last June and it was already drinking wonderfully. Decant for 2 hours m. Drank over a 6 hour period
prrcap: maybe off vintages are better for early consumption...although I believe Montrose style over the last decade is much more approachable young. Cheers!
Château Montrose is the most muscular red wine Grand Cru Classé in 1855 that I know. And very very tannic too.
😀😀
The noun rosé refers to the wine (although we could use it to refer to a ton/shade of colour when describing something, I guess); roser is also a verb (~ getting pink); the colour is simply rose. Montrose, or Mont rose = the pink mount. That was the french minute.
collbackk: I thought that is what I said...pink mount or mont rose but thanks for the info. Cheers!
Great stuff!
I enjoyed their 2017 Tronquoy Lalande as my first Left Bank wine experience because it already had tertiary notes as well as primary and secondary.
Fun fact, one of our DC area's best wineries, RdV Vineyards, was recently purchased by the Chateau Montrose family. Curious to see how it evolves!
mickey: thx for the info on RdV. Tronquoy Lalande was a great value but I think it has almost doubled in price over the last 5 years so now just fair value. Cheers!
I have drank 1989 Tronquoy Lalande excellent back in early 90's for about $10. I have a couple of bottles of the 2018 TL at 15% alc....i have not tried it yet
Happy to share,@@TrophyWineHunter! I happened to hop onto RdV's website after my dining companion happened to reference the wine, which is how I came across its very recent purchase. If you get a chance, I think you may like to try one of their top two wines (Lost Mountain or Rendezvous).
I agree with you on T-L in being a good wine but not strong in QPR. We decided to take the plunge on it after it was being offered among a handful of Bordeaux Reds (each from a different sub-appellation, the others also likely being of the Bordeaux Superieur-level).
@@robertfenti3996 great bottle at $10 although I do't think Montrose was involved with the winery in 1989 so it would be interesting to see if the style of wine changed after the change in ownership. Cheers!
@@mickeylee2624 😀😀
Great video Trophy. Curious, what has been your favorite vintage of Montrose?
John: ooh that is tough one. I would say off the top of my head, probably 1986 and 1966. Cheers!
Great video. Agree that Montrose can be very difficult to drink when young. What is your opinion of La Dame de Montrose? I don't have any experience, but I've heard that even as a second wine it is quite unapproachable when young. I've got a bottle of the 2015, and am scared to open it!
@@noahcap i have a had a few bottles but no noticeable enough to form an opinion on the wines. Didn’t stick out in my mind
Love it! Those meaty wines aren't for me either. Had beychevelle 2016 yday...v v full and meaty too. Lovely but quite a drink
bambizer: I think it is important to identify wines that are really well produced but just not your style. Every taster has he/her likes and it is important as a reviewer that I acknowledge these preferences. Cheers!
Nice video. I’m not sure if it is a trick of the camera but around the 7:45 mark when you swirl the wine in the glass you can see the age on the legs. In the glass the color is ruby and rich but when you swirl it you can see the browning.
doublewides: nice to know. I just use natural lighting without extra lighting so what you see is what you will see if you were opening the bottle. I think that is better than if the wine is reviewed with lighting as you don't get a real life impression of the wine. Everything that I see and taste should be able to be replicated by anyone with any conditions. Cheers!
It is pronounced Booeeg!
thierrylestranger: sorry, what part are you referring to? Cheers!
@@TrophyWineHunter bouygues