Château MONTROSE
2ème grand cru classé
- 2020
- Saint-estèphe
After 43 vintages, Mr Charmolüe sold the estate to Mr Bouygues in 2006. The change of ownership was accompanied by a spectacular project designed to bring Montrose into the 21st century: use of geothermal energy, installation of photovoltaic panels, recycling of CO2 from alcoholic fermentation...
There has also been a change of style in the wines, with a move towards greater aromatic complexity and textural refinement. Montrose nevertheless remains a wine of great breed, resting on a powerful tannic architecture and reserved for the most patient connoisseurs.
The 2020 vintage in the press:
Hachette (Guide 2024): Coup de ♥ “The 2020 vintage is certainly a great Montrose. [...] The palate combines power, softness, finesse, freshness and length in perfect harmony. Elegance itself. ”
Vinous (N. Martin - February 2023): 99/100 “This wine is much more detailed than the 2019 or 2018. It's a symmetrical Montrose of unerring precision and minerality, whose silky texture conceals the underlying power. This is unequivocally a brilliant wine and a benchmark for recent years.”
Vinous (A. Galloni - February 2023): 99/100 “The 2020 is a modern classic for Montrose and one of the great wines of the Left Bank.”
La Revue du Vin de France (Guide 2024): 98/100 “This is the most aristocratic of the appellation, but also the tightest at this stage. With superb precision and impeccable definition, it has not yet released its full potential, but the muscle is there and everything is in place to give, within ten years, an exceptional wine.”
- To keep or to drink :
- Wait 10 years and more
- Apogée :
- 2023-2042
From the same producer
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A historic Saint-Estèphe cru (the second oldest vineyard in the appellation), Tronquoy is ideally situated on the famous "Terrace 3", with its deep clay gravel (up to 8 metres). The vineyard's 30 hectares were bought by Messrs Bouygues shortly after Montrose, and are now managed with the same care and determination to embody the Bordeaux revival: modern vat room, conversion to organic viticulture, quest for freshness and brilliance in the wines...
Tronquoy is still too little known, and is currently Saint-Estèphe's nugget in the making, offering wines that are both accessible when young (excellent 2019, rated 93/100 by M. Quarin) and with excellent ageing potential (2012 now at its peak, with a creamy texture that makes it gourmet).The 2019 vintage in the press:
La Revue du Vin de France (Guide 2025): 92/100 “The 2019 vintage is tasting very well today, with a noble beginning of evolution on the nose, notes of tobacco, cedar and pepper. On the palate, the wine is melted and firmly in place, stretched out by supple tannins.”
Vinous (N. Martin - January 2023): 92/100 “The 2019 Tronquoy-Lalande has a concentrated nose with fairly intense black fruits, hints of boysenberry, a little richer than some of its peers. The palate is medium-bodied with a dense, powerful, almost plodding entry, very saline on the palate, but I'm looking for more precision and finesse on the finish. This could well develop over time. Tasted blind at Southwold's annual tasting.”
More- To keep or to drink:
- Ready to drink
- Apogée:
- 2016-2026
- Organic certification:
- 2024
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A historic Saint-Estèphe cru (the second oldest vineyard in the appellation), Tronquoy-Lalande is ideally situated on the famous "Terrace 3", with its deep clay gravel (up to 8 metres). The vineyard's 30 hectares were bought by Messrs Bouygues shortly after Montrose, and are now managed with the same care and determination to embody the Bordeaux revival: modern vat room, conversion to organic viticulture, quest for freshness and brilliance in the wines...
Tronquoy-Lalande is still too little known, and is currently Saint-Estèphe's nugget in the making, offering wines that are both accessible when young (excellent 2019, rated 93/100 by M. Quarin) and with excellent ageing potential (2012 now at its peak, with a creamy texture that makes it gourmet).Ch. Tronquoy-Lalande is renamed Tronquoy (tout court) as of the 2019 vintage.
More- To keep or to drink:
- Ready to drink
- Apogée:
- 2016-2026
- Potential alcohol:
- 13.5%
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After 43 vintages, Mr Charmolüe sold the estate to Mr Bouygues in 2006. The change of ownership was accompanied by a spectacular project designed to bring Montrose into the 21st century: use of geothermal energy, installation of photovoltaic panels, recycling of CO2 from alcoholic fermentation...
There has also been a change of style in the wines, with a move towards greater aromatic complexity and textural refinement. Montrose nevertheless remains a wine of great breed, resting on a powerful tannic architecture and reserved for the most patient connoisseurs.The 2021 vintage in the press:
La Revue du Vin de France (Guide 2025): 96/100 “To its usual breed and depth, Montrose 2021 adds a hint of brilliance and great distinction in its tannins. A powerful wine indeed, but terribly civilized.”
Vinous (A. Galloni - December 2023): 96+/100 “The 2021 Montrose is an inward, brooding wine-classic Montrose, in other words, just attenuated in its intensity by the cool growing season. Spice, tobacco, cedar, menthol, scorched earth, gravel andtouch of new oak open over time, but the 2021 is really a wine that requires considerable cellaring to reach its potential. Then again it is Montrose. Elegance meets power here.”
J-M Quarin (April 2022): 96/100 “Minutious on the entry, very aromatic and complex in the middle, the wine grows on the finish, very fresh, very tasty, more floral than usual and yet profound. Great persistence with refined tannicity and more perfumed than usual at this age.”
More- To keep or to drink:
- Wait 5 to 10 years
- Apogée:
- 2023-2042
-
After 43 vintages, Mr Charmolüe sold the estate to Mr Bouygues in 2006. The change of ownership was accompanied by a spectacular project designed to bring Montrose into the 21st century: use of geothermal energy, installation of photovoltaic panels, recycling of CO2 from alcoholic fermentation...
There has also been a change of style in the wines, with a move towards greater aromatic complexity and textural refinement. Montrose nevertheless remains a wine of great breed, resting on a powerful tannic architecture and reserved for the most patient connoisseurs.More- To keep or to drink:
- Ready to drink
- Apogée:
- 2023-2042
- Blend:
- 67% Cabernet Sauvignon, 29 Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc
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After 43 vintages, Mr Charmolüe sold the estate to Mr Bouygues in 2006. The change of ownership was accompanied by a spectacular project designed to bring Montrose into the 21st century: use of geothermal energy, installation of photovoltaic panels, recycling of CO2 from alcoholic fermentation...
There has also been a change of style in the wines, with a move towards greater aromatic complexity and textural refinement. Montrose nevertheless remains a wine of great breed, resting on a powerful tannic architecture and reserved for the most patient connoisseurs.The 2014 vintage in the press:
Vinous (N. Martin - February 2024): 96/100 “The 2014 Montrose has an engaging, complex bouquet of black fruit, pencil box, pressed violet and warm earth, which gains intensity with aeration. The palate is medium-bodied, with excellent tannins framing the mineral-rich black fruit (in fact, this is one of the most mineral-laden 2014 Left Banks I've tasted), the oak is perfectly integrated and the finish has plenty of panache. A magnificent wine that is just entering its tasting phase.”
En Magnum (2022): 93/100 “Developed aroma of cedar, terribly marked by the microclimate of the gravels on the banks of the Gironde in its apparent suppleness, which hides an excellent body and above all an elegance of mouthfeel and ageing worthy of our expectations.”
More- To keep or to drink:
- Wait 1 to 2 years
- Apogée:
- 2025-2040
- Potential alcohol:
- 13.5%
- Blend:
- 61% Cabernet sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 8% Cabernet franc, 1% Petit verdot
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After 43 vintages, Mr Charmolüe sold the estate to Mr Bouygues in 2006. The change of ownership was accompanied by a spectacular project designed to bring Montrose into the 21st century: use of geothermal energy, installation of photovoltaic panels, recycling of CO2 from alcoholic fermentation...
There has also been a change of style in the wines, with a move towards greater aromatic complexity and textural refinement. Montrose nevertheless remains a wine of great breed, resting on a powerful tannic architecture and reserved for the most patient connoisseurs.The 2010 vintage in the press:
Vinous (N.Martin - May 2024): 99/100 “The 2010 Montrose has a show-stopper nose with powerful, intense, mineral-rich black fruit, becoming quite with aeration. Potpourri hints complement tobacco notes. The palate is fresh, vibrant and weighty, yet paradoxically, it has wonderful finesse. There is a symmetry about this Montrose, coupled with a tremendous length that leaves you wanting more. Brilliant.”
J-M Quarin (February 2023): 97/100 “Dark, intense, very slightly evolved color. Nose remarkable for its ripeness and freshness. Smells of black fruits. Elegant woody nuances. Blind tasting, the palate is reminiscent of Château Latour. Fat, powerful, full-bodied, with lots of fruit, it's a marvel. Very tasty finish, legitimately firm, because too young. A chalky nuance in the final persistence. If not, wait two or three years."
En Magnum (2022): 95/100 “Very rich in color and texture, nobly mentholated, with a particular velvety texture where we feel the influence of Jean-Bernard Delmas and the style developed at Haut-Brion. Long, complex, perhaps a little less northern Grand Medoc than the 2018s and 2020s will be.”
More- To keep or to drink:
- Wait 1 to 2 years
- Apogée:
- 2025-2045