critic reviews
The 2021 Monbousquet has a deep garnet-purple color. It offers forthcoming scents of juicy black and red plums, boysenberries, and cracked black pepper, with underlying wafts of garrigue and crushed rocks. The medium-bodied palate delivers a compelling burst of red and black fruits, with plush tannins and seamless freshness, finishing with an earthy lift.
Goes long on raspberry and loganberry fruits, touches of floral aromatics, this has a brightness to it, and attractive acidity and spice, more austere than in many vintages of Monbousquet, with less weight thorugh the mid palate, which is a plus for me in a wine I often find too heavy. 50% new oak. Last year for technical director Raphael Maurin (who was only here for two vintages), now Laurent Lussau in charge, harvest 29 September to October 6, small yield of 18.55hl/h.
The 2021 Monbousquet has a dense, oaky nose, quite backward with underlying floral scents—a touch of violet. The palate is medium-bodied with grainy tannins, still demonstrating the hardness and obduracy I picked up upon at en primeur. Touches of mocha show on the finish. This is a rather unyielding Saint-Émilion, and the question is whether there is sufficient fruit to support it when the tannins eventually soften.