Chateau du Tertre Margaux 2022 1.5Ltr

This is very structured and intense with blackberries, currants, walnuts and chocolate. Fresh tobacco as well. Full-bodied, it has lovely fruit and a flavorful finish. A succulent and juicy red. One of the best ever from here. Leave it alone for two or three years. Best after 2028.

The 2022 du Tertre has realized the potential it showed from barrel, offering up complex aromas of cassis, plums, pencil shavings and violets, followed by a medium to full-bodied, layered and velvety palate that's rich and textural, with lively acids, powdery tannins and a long, delicately minty finish. It's an unusual blend of 57% Cabernet Sauvignon, 23% Cabernet Franc, 15% Merlot and 5% Petit Verdot, which no doubt contributes to its singular style.

Inky black and blue fruit, crushed stone, graphite, and smoky tobacco notes all emerge from the 2022 Château Du Tertre, a rich, powerful wine from this château that has medium to full-bodied richness, ripe, velvety yet building tannins, and a great finish. Based on 57% Cabernet Sauvignon, 23% Cabernet Franc, 15% Merlot, and the balanced Petit Verdot, it spent 18 months in 60% new barrels. Give bottles 4-6 years and enjoy over the following two decades.

Offers a gush of boysenberry and mulberry puree, along with notes of violet, anise and black tea. A subtle sanguine thread stitches the finish gently, letting the fruit spill through with a flourish. Built for the near term, too. Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Petit Verdot. Drink now through 2035. 4,400 cases made, 850 cases imported.

The 2022 Château du Tertre has a perfumed, quite Pauillac-like bouquet thanks to the graphite scents infusing the black fruit. Good delineation though. The palate is medium-bodied with silky tannins. Definitely a more sensual Margaux, yet cohesive, with ample substance towards the finish. This has meliorated since I tasted it a year ago. Tasted blind at the Southwold tasting in London.

The blend of the 2022 du Tertre is 57% Cabernet Sauvignon, 23% Cabernet Franc, 15% Merlot and 5% Petit Verdot, a fairly typical blend for the property these days, the fruits coming from the slopes on the tertre on which the château sits, and it accounts for about half of production (not including third and fourth wines I should say). The élevage was in 60% new oak, the rest second-fill oak, with about 16 months in barrel blending. The aromatics here are charming, fragrant and elegant, with dark red cherry, smoked and lightly dried, with a cranberry touch and a lightly minty edge, all somewhat brooding, with a hint of perfumed bark, fine leather and oak. The palate is fresh, a touch loose, elegant with dark berry and red cherry fruits like the nose, with a polished, leathery, and a lightly toasted character. An elegant du Tertre, this seems coherent and evidently more convincing than some other vintages I have tasted over the last decade. It finishes long, lightly gripped and filled with peppery energy. A property on the up, for sure. The alcohol on the label is 14%. Tasted three times.