Chateau Montrose Saint Estephe 2022 375ml

From barrel, I wrote that 2022 Montrose was so compelling that assigning it a bracketed score seemed a mere formality, and so it has proven. Unwinding in the glass with a deep and brooding bouquet of cassis, wild blueberries, violets, pencil shavings and burning embers, it's full-bodied, deep and dense, somehow marrying all the tannic authority that has long been such a signature of Montrose with a suavity and purity that represents the quintessence of contemporary Bordeaux. The broad, palate-staining finish lasts for more than a minute. This is a profound young wine that readers aren't going to want to miss.

#78 in Top 100 Wines, 2025. One of the greats in the vintage, the 2022 Château Montrose is deep ruby/purple-hued and has a massive perfume of sweet crème de cassis, sappy tobacco, and freshly sharpened pencils. With incredible purity and precision in its aromatics, it hits the palate with full-bodied richness, a layered, powerful, yet still somehow elegant mouthfeel, ultra-fine tannins, and a great finish. Based on a classic blend of 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot, 8% Cabernet Franc, and the rest Petit Verdot, it spent 18 months in 60% new French oak. As I wrote during En Primeur, it has the essence of a Montrose-like character. While it’s not a massively backward or austere example of the château, it nevertheless deserves 10-12 years of bottle age and should have at least half a century of longevity. It is, without a doubt, in the same league as the 1989, 1990, 2003, 2009, 2010, 2016, 2018, and 2020.

#65 in Top 100 Wines of France, 2025. Great depth in the nose, taking you into its core of blackcurrants, pencil shavings, graphite, tar, inkpot and cassis. Full-bodied and very tight, this flexes its polished muscles, showing form and tension. Compacted. From organically grown grapes. 66% cabernet sauvignon, 25% merlot, 8% cabernet franc and 1% petit verdot. This needs six to seven years to come around.

A deep heady nose filled with fragrant black fruit, liquorice, tobacco and violets. Sumptuous and seductive, this walks the fine line between presenting the vintage with a heady, charged palate full of sun-kissed fruit and lashings of liquorice spice with pristine cherries and blackcurrants and a vein of salty, crushed stone and iron minerality. Gorgeous acidity keeps the profile lifted and almost airy before the density of the aromatics and flavours comes into play. So well constructed, this has muscles and serious power but within a sleek frame and a delicate chalky touch on the finish.

The 2022 Montrose has a wonderful bouquet, beautifully defined with mineral-rich blackberry and bilberry fruit and a light touch of the Gironde Estuary in the background. The palate is medium-bodied with finely chiselled tannins, well judged acidity, focused and poised, with a finish that is just quintessential Saint-Estèphe. The pedigree of this wine is so obvious. Tasted blind at the Southwold tasting in London.

This accounts for 53% of production in this vintage, a high figure for Montrose, which reflects the high quality of the vintage – similar volumes were made in 2003, 2005, 2009 and 2010, says Vincent Decup. The blend is 66% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot, 8% Cabernet Franc and 1% Petit Verdot;the percentage of Cabernet Franc is notable, a high figure for the grand vin, taking almost all the estate’s Cabernet Franc from at least four parcels. The élevage was in 60% new oak for 18 months, the remainder second-fill barrels. A nose of dark and polished fruits, spiced with sandalwood, toast, incense, rose and currant. Beautifully polished and broad on the palate, fresh and dark, with salted olive, currant and damson, laced with black pepper, toast and rose, with such a fine-boned spine of tannins they are barely perceptible, until the finish when they add a dense and focused frame to the length. Plenty of peppery energy here, and it is tremendously long too. So complete and harmonious, elegant yet brimming with structure, this is a Montrose with a great future. The alcohol on the label is 14.5% which matches the analysis.

This is laden with gently steeped black currant, black cherry and blackberry fruit inlaid with flashes of licorice snap, singed alder, chestnut and gunpowder tea. A flash of lilac skirts the edges, adding subtle energy and lift. The long finish offers an alluring feel, with an echo of warm earth lingering amid the fruit. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. Best from 2026 through 2045.