Château Montlandrie 2016

Characteristics and tasting advice for Château Montlandrie 2016

Tasting

Appearance

The wine reveals a deep purple hue with garnet highlights, intensely bright.

Nose

The nose opens with aromas of black fruits, with notes of blackberry, blackcurrant and blueberry. With aeration, nuances of dark chocolate, delicate vanilla, sweet spices and licorice emerge, alongside floral touches of violet and iris.

Palate

On the palate, the wine unfolds a supple, velvety texture with juicy red and black fruit. The silky, finely structured tannins wrap the palate with elegance. Lively acidity brings freshness and tension, while the persistent finish reveals notes of minerality, fine graphite and chocolate.

Food and wine pairings

This wine pairs perfectly with grilled or roasted red meats, such as a Bordeaux-style rib steak or an herb-roasted leg of lamb. It also matches very well with duck in all its forms, notably duck breast with red fruits or confit. Hard cheeses from the Pyrenees also make a harmonious pairing.

Serving and cellaring

Château Montlandrie 2016 benefits from being decanted one hour before serving and served at a temperature between 16 and 18°C. This wine can be enjoyed now but will continue to evolve until around 2034.

A Castillon-Côtes de Bordeaux wine from an exceptional terroir

The estate

Established at the end of the 19th century, Château Montlandrie is a Castillon-Côtes de Bordeaux cru located on clay-limestone soils overlooking the Dordogne. Purchased in 2009 by Denis Durantou, a respected figure of the Right Bank and owner of Château L'Église Clinet in Pomerol, it benefited from his vision until his passing in 2020. Today, the estate belongs to the Reilhac-Durantou family (Constance, Noémie, Alix and Marie). The vineyard spans twelve hectares and is predominantly planted with merlot, complemented by cabernet franc and cabernet sauvignon.

The vineyard

The Château Montlandrie vineyard extends over a clay-limestone plateau situated at eighty-six meters above sea level in the Castillon-Côtes de Bordeaux appellation, about twenty minutes from Saint-Émilion. This elevation places the estate at the same geographic level as some of Saint-Émilion’s grands crus classés. The clay-limestone soils, complemented by molasse on certain plots, give the wine its characteristic minerality and elegance. Planting density reaches six thousand vines per hectare, encouraging a natural concentration in the grapes. The vineyard forms a single block divided into fifteen distinct plots.

The vintage

The year 2016 was exceptional in Bordeaux. The extraordinarily rainy spring replenished the soil’s water reserves, preparing the vines for the exceptionally dry, hot summer that followed. This summer water stress promoted the concentration of sugars, acids and phenolic compounds. Early September rains restarted ripening, which then concluded slowly, contributing to a complex, well-balanced phenolic composition. October remained dry and sunny with cool nights, allowing harvest at optimal ripeness between October 3 and 17.

Vinification and aging

The Château Montlandrie 2016 harvest was carried out by hand, preserving the integrity of the grapes. Yields came in at forty hectoliters per hectare. Vinification was carried out on a parcel-by-parcel basis in fifteen small temperature-controlled stainless-steel tanks. Malolactic fermentation took place in tank, followed by aging in French oak barrels for around fourteen months, with 60% new oak.

Grape varieties

Merlot, cabernet franc and cabernet sauvignon.