Château Montrose 2000

The nose is still tight, with fruity notes, along with hints of Havana tobacco and pepper. The palate is very dense, vibrant, and deep. A great wine that is still reserved.

This has a relatively polished feel, with rounded tannins, though they are substantial enough to give the core of tobacco, black currant paste and warmed fig flavors a nice loamy tug through the finish. Rather refined and with noticeably more depth than AOC colleagues in this vintage, with a very alluring hint of fresh bay at the very end. -- Blind 2000 Bordeaux retrospective (December 2015). Drink now through 2023. 15,000 cases made.

Just beginning to soften and open after a stubborn few decades. Tobacco and crushed mint leaf sit against blackberry and bilberry fruits that continue to be held by a firm frame of tannins. A stately Montrose that has a long future ahead, and is packed with the power and finesse that is so signature to this estate. Harvest September 22 to October 7. First year in the new stainless steel vat room. 2% Petit Verdot completes the blend.

Just starting to open, it shows beautiful spices and dark fruit on the nose and palate. It’s full-bodied with ultra-fine, integrated tannins and an extremely complex, refined finish. Drink or hold.

Full red-ruby. Roasted, smoky aromas of blackberry, blueberry and licorice. Plush, dense and large-scaled; expands impressively in the mouth. Chocolatey-ripe but kept fresh by nicely integrated acidity. Offers lovely sweetness without going over the top. Finishes with big, dusty, horizontal tannins and lovely aromatic persistence. Offers extraordinary texture and depth of flavor for a wine with just 12.8% alcohol.

Slow, steady, and holding its course on the way to maturity, the wine is still youthful, with all of its currants, spicebox, tar, blackberry and black currants held in check. Tannic, but not overly so, the wine is a modern classic that will age for another 40 years. Drink from 2025-2060.

The 2000 Montrose is a straight-up gorgeous bottle of wine that, while still young, is offering up tons of pleasure. Classic Saint Estèphe notes of blackcurrants, damp earth, tobacco leaf, cedar and hints of truffle all emerge from this dense, concentrated, powerful red that has the classic 2000 structure and richness. With sweet tannins, full body, impeccable balance and a great, great finish, it’s at the early stages of its drink window and has another 3+ decades of longevity ahead of it.

01: Dark, classic Bordeaux red with violet highlights and a fine rim. Restrained, slightly floral bouquet; black peppercorns and tobacco. Still a bit oaky, rather slender on the attack. On the palate, a surprisingly refined Montrose, with a gently firm tannin/extract note; a fine, sandy texture. Here too, the palate aromatics show a slight woody tone. Overall it feels rather light and clearly falls short of expectations. (17/20). 09: Quite deep red. Surprisingly approachable at the moment; equally surprising is the already fairly pronounced terroir character, threaded with dried herbs and leather notes, plus a hint of raisin. Fuller on the palate; the tannins are rounded on the outside, still demanding at the core. Very aromatic finish, soon entering its first stage of maturity. The impatient can also decant it for around 5 hours! Stylistically it’s reminiscent of a 1990 of sorts. I must admit: I definitely underestimated it at the en primeur tasting. (19/20). 11: Dark, and surprisingly showing a first, fine hint of maturity at the rim. Spicy, deep bouquet with a slightly greenish Cabernet sheen; dried peppercorns. Firm and fleshy on the palate; the tannins currently come across as quite austere and rustic. Despite the promising vintage, I’m rather critical at the moment about its harmony. It feels quite hard right now—perhaps due to a lack of decanting or the need for further bottle age. The potential is enormous, but in terms of its marked character it leans more towards 1928 or 1945. I tasted it again three hours later: it hadn’t budged an inch! (19/20). 12: At a lunch with Hervé Berland. First truffle notes—already more about terroir than fruit. On the palate, lofty, powerful and regal all at once, finishing with a classic earthy/iron tone. It’s about to get going, and it’s already a little Montrose miracle! (19/20). 14: Very dark red. Restrained bouquet—you sense the depth, but the nose releases few aromas: dark plums, tar, delicate traces of summer truffle. It only builds very slowly; the aromas seem somehow held within the overall complexity. On the palate, massive yet rounded tannins, almost overly fleshy, calling for time. It inspires great hope, but offers very little pleasure right now. Anyone pulling the cork today is punishing themselves. Anyone who waits another 20 years will be rewarded beyond measure. A far more perfect version of its own 1989, with legendary potential. (19/20). 15: Medium garnet, slight orange tinge at the rim. The bouquet was surprisingly mature and rather dry: shoe leather, pale malt, and dried kitchen herbs. Somehow I would have expected a bit more primary fruit. On the palate, dry, with tannins that feel quite austere. One thing is certain: there is plenty of power for later! Already last year it showed itself as unapproachable, so for now one shouldn’t try to force a drinking window, even with long decanting. Wait at least until 2020. Potential rating: 19/20. 18: Extremely dark, almost black at the core, with very saturated garnet red. The nose surprises with partial approachability. Normally, a Montrose from such a great vintage is very shut down for the first 20 years. Its baroque depth is evident from the first second: black berries, Brazil tobacco, truffle, and first finely spicy leather notes. The palate is massive and fleshy. The rounded tannins make for a grand, and at the same time fairly appealing, experience. The structure is still a bit tight, though, and there’s much more to come. And it didn’t really match the cordon bleu either. Sometimes tolerance matters more than harmony! I expect the first real maturity in two or three years. (19/20). 22: Red at the core with almost black reflections. The bouquet shows warmth, but also the slightest green Cabernet traces. These wafer-thin green notes radiate herbs and eucalyptus, giving the wine a “California drive” on the nose. It compensates with warmth and ripe fruit, and goes remarkably deep. The more time you give it, the more it loses that freshness, turns more classic, and shows the great Montrose terroir through leather notes and brown Peru balsam. On the palate, fleshy, still rather arrogant, showing grainy tannins. It somehow also reflects the great tannic vintages 1928 and 1945. A kind of its own 1982, in a much better vinified form. There’s more to come! (19/20).

Deep, dense, youthful, dark bouquet with blackcurrant, fine woods, peanuts and licorice. An elegant, dense, fresh palate with dark fruit, fine tannins, concentrated aromas and a long, fresh finish. 18/20. Drink through 2038.

Still extremely young, it feels markedly more closed than the 1996, with a greater emphasis on spicy black pepper and cassis, and tannins that are still firm. You feel the tannins closing in at the finish, whereas in the 1996 they are now like spun silk, fully integrated. I last tasted this wine two years ago, and it is clearly starting to move into its next phase now after a stubborn beginning, coming out of itself and showing the finesse and elegance of the vintage. Notes of tobacco and crushed mint leaf emerge after five minutes of swirling and sniffing, and it has a long future ahead, packed with appellation typicity. Harvest ran from September 22 to October 7. First year in the new stainless-steel vat room, with greater capacity and smaller-format vats of 50 hl, 80 hl and 100 hl, with just a few 200 hl vats for the blend (previously entirely 200 hl wooden vats).

A blend of 63% Cabernet Sauvignon, 31% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc, and 2% Petit Verdot, the 2000 Montrose is medium to deep garnet in color, with a touch of brick. It charges out with ready-to-go notes of juicy plums, black cherry compote, and wild blueberries, opening out to a perfume of candied violets, camphor, rose oil, new leather, and fragrant soil. The medium-bodied palate is elegant and very fresh with soft, velvety tannins and bags of vibrant black and blue fruits, finishing long and perfumed. Gorgeous!

A deep purple colour with remarkable brilliance, a nobly spicy bouquet and a superb palate, with a subtle touch of austerity. A great wine, worthy of its renown in this vintage.

Blind tasted and decanted. This bottle performs better than the one tasted in 2007, although the nose is still relatively discreet. Supple, mellow attack on the palate. The wine is velvety and fleshy, full of flavour, with tannins that are slightly firm on the finish. However, it shows very aromatic, with notes of ink, wood and fruit lingering on the palate.