Château Hosanna, Pomerol, 2022
Produced from 74% Merlot and 26% Cabernet Franc on gravel and red clay on iron-rich subsoil. Hosanna is usually the most extravagant wine in the JP Moueix line-up. A quite wild and intoxicating bouquet of sweet black cherry, black tea, cooked meats, truffle, tar, eucalyptus, liquorice and mocha. This is very true to form - packed with decadent, plush dark fruits, boysenberry, raspberry, plums, creme de menthe - seamless and pure. There’s a lot of mass here and a touch of alcohol, but it finishes with freshness and salinity. Hosanna fans will be enthralled.
critic reviews
The 2022 Hosanna was tasted from two bottles. Both felt a bit fatigued on the nose, with the second showing a little oxidation. The palate is better but quite sweet, with cola and brown spices, exhibiting some heavy-handed oak on the finish. I am not completely sure this bottle was representative. Tasted blind at the Southwold tasting in London.
From a vineyard well up on the plateau of Pomerol, this is 76% Merlot and 24% Cabernet Franc. I find fragrant summer berries on the nose here, red cherry and raspberry, crushed and concentrated, layered with Cabernet complexities, juniper and mint, as well as streaks of pomegranate molasses, toast and cigar box. I certainly find it enticing, and the palate does not disappoint, although it moves away from the fragrant perfume of the nose to present darker layers of fruit, all blackberry, currant and smoky pepper, with a sense of freshness despite the dark chocolate and tarry tones, and with time scented notes of rose and violet reappear, touching base with the aromatic profile. Lovely tannic structure here, ripe, toasted, tight-knit but evident, clearly marking this one out as for the cellar. A big step up in the Moueix portfolio with this wine.
Intense, concentrated, very different in character form many in the vintage in Pomerol; this delivers palma violets, a touch chalky, intense liquorice drops, umami texture here, impressive, velvety, drawn out, good quality with vintage signature without being heavy. 4.5ha, harvest September 5 to 19.
Offering up aromas of blackberries, minty blackcurrants, licorice and spices, the 2022 Hosanna is full-bodied, deep and concentrated, with a broad, velvety attack that segues into a layered, fleshy mid-palate of ripe but lively fruit that's framed by polished tannins. This is always one of the more extravagant wines in the Mouiex portfolio, but in 2022 its exuberance remains in check.