Château Montrose
About Château Montrose
Once a famed hunting area, Château Montrose is now one of the leading estates in Saint Estèphe. This 2eme Grand Cru Classé estate was actually part of the Calon Segur estate in the 1800s.
In 2006 the property was bought by the Bouygues family, who invested €55 million in a high-speed environmentally-friendly renovation. They also hired Jean-Bernard Delmas, the previous director of Château Haut Brion, who ensured that this powerhouse has consistently produced brilliant wines that are dark, full-bodied, muscular and rich from its vines with an average age of 40 years.
The vineyard of Montrose is 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 32% Merlot, 6% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot. The 95 hectare Bordeaux vineyard has a hillside terroir of deep gravel, with sand and clay soil. Of those hectares, 88 to 90 hectares are always in production. The wine is Cabernet Sauvignon dominated - dark, full-bodied, muscular and rich.
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Wine Advocate (96)
Tasted at the vertical in London, I have instead used the tasting note from a bottle opened at the property when I visited just a couple of weeks later. The 1996 Montrose is a blend of 76% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc and 1% Petit Verdot picked between 23 September and 6 October. It was served alongside the 1986 Montrose, however, this is a far better wine and reconfirms Robert Parker's remarks at his own vertical at the property in 2014. For me, it is that loamy character that defines the nose—freshly tilled, damp soil that tinctures the black fruit —that takes you straight to this particular château. This is classic through and through and very well defined. The palate is wonderful with very fine delineation, pitch-perfect acidity, touches of graphite infusing the red and black fruit that dovetails into a very pretty, floral finish. This is clearly one of the great wines of the 1996 vintage and I would be stocking up as much as I could, because it will give 30-40 years of pleasure. Tasted July 2016.HK$3,535.00