Château Montus 2020

Characteristics and tasting advice for Château Montus Blanc 2020

Tasting

Color
This 2020 vintage reveals a pale yellow hue with golden and copper highlights, reflecting its aromatic concentration and oak-barrel aging.

Nose
The bouquet offers fine aromatic complexity, with notes of yellow fruit (peach, mirabelle plum), candied citrus and apple. Floral hints of acacia and honey accompany delicate woody touches of vanilla, toasted hazelnut and almond. Altogether, it shows remarkable harmony between fruit expression and the subtle integration of oak.

Palate
On the palate, the wine charms with a silky, enveloping texture brought by petit courbu, while petit manseng provides minerality and structure. The balance between richness and freshness is remarkable, with bright acidity carrying aromas of stone fruit, citrus and creamy notes. The palate reveals a generous body and a lingering finish with mineral and vanilla-tinged accents.

Food and wine pairings

In its early years, Château Montus Blanc 2020 pairs perfectly with delicate fish such as sea bass or turbot, Aquitaine caviar, as well as poultry in a cream and mushroom sauce. After six to fifteen years of cellaring, this wine develops an ideal complexity to elevate vintage foie gras or a Roquefort soufflé.

Serving and cellaring

Château Montus Blanc 2020 can be enjoyed now and through around 2024 to make the most of its fruity freshness. It will reveal its full richness and complexity between around 2026 and 2035.

An outstanding Pacherenc du Vic-Bilh by Château Montus

The estate

At the helm of Château Bouscassé, a family estate for several generations, Alain Brumont acquired in 1980 Château Montus. A pioneer and visionary, Alain Brumont elevated the nuances and identity of tannat, a regional grape variety, through high-quality wines whose reputation quickly spread beyond borders.

With their finesse, power and elegance, Château Montus wines are the pure and authentic expression of the greatest terroirs of the Southwest. 

The vineyard

Château Montus Blanc is a wine from the Pacherenc du Vic-Bilh appellation, grown on an exceptional terroir characterized by spectacular slopes of 20% to 40%. The vines benefit from optimal southern and southwestern exposure on soils made up of large rounded pebbles over red and yellow clays of Pyrenean origin. This unique geological setting, combined with altitude and generous sunshine, promotes slow, gradual ripening of the grapes, allowing great aromatic complexity to develop.

The vintage

The 2020 vintage in the Southwest enjoyed favorable conditions that enabled optimal ripening of white grape varieties. This year also marked a period of technical transition at the estate under the direction of Antoine Veiry, aiming to refine the expression of the terroir while preserving the house’s hallmark elegance.

Winemaking and aging

Château Montus Blanc 2020 is crafted using a rigorous method, beginning with hand harvesting at optimal ripeness, with yields deliberately limited to five or six bunches per vine. The grapes undergo gentle pressing for five hours at low temperature to preserve delicate aromas. Fermentation and aging take place over fourteen to fifteen months in 600-liter demi-muids with staves more than four centimeters thick. This approach allows gradual, subtle integration of oak. The wine rests on fine lees throughout the aging period, developing its signature silky texture.

Grape varieties

Petit courbu and petit manseng