critic reviews
The 2020 Malescot Saint-Exupéry is oaky on the nose. At the moment, the wood occludes the fruit profile, but it will assimilate with time, and there is satisfying delineation. The palate is medium-bodied with a sweeter entry than its peers, perhaps due to more extraction or later picking. It retains decent freshness, although it just needs to muster a little more restraint and grace, which may well develop with bottle age. Tasted blind at the annual Southwold tasting.
Deep garnet-purple colored, the 2020 Malescot St. Exupery is a little sluggish and broody to begin, before cutting loose with notes of crushed red currants, warm cassis, and black raspberries, followed by hints of cardamom, violets, and black pepper. Medium to full-bodied, rich and plush, it delivers bags of opulent black and red fruits and fantastic persistence.
Sporting a deep purple-black color, the 2020 Malescot St. Exupery prances out of the glass with showy scents of ripe black and red currants, black cherries, raspberry leaves and ground cloves, plus wafts of lilacs and tilled soil. Medium to full-bodied, the palate delivers mouth-coating black and red fruit layers with a firm, grainy texture and well-balanced acidity, finishing on a lingering fragrant-earth note.