chateau montrose 2eme cru classe st estephe

Château Montrose

Château Montrose, 2ème Cru Classé, St Estèphe, 2003

Name: Château Montrose, 2ème Cru Classé, St Estèphe
Brand: Château Montrose
Price: 2387.84 GBP

95/100

Inside Bordeaux

96/100

The Wine Independent

92/100

Vinous

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Last Few
2003
12x75cl
DP
£2,387.84

Broking

2003
12x75cl
DP
£1,967.84

Justerini & Brooks Tasting note

The nose is remarkable: dark, spiced fruit of huge proportions. The palate yields sweet, ripe black fruits in buckets, the tannins are big but well managed, and the fine terroir comes through on a persistent finish. This is a broad-shouldered wine packed with opulent fruit, in which normal acidity levels go almost unnoticed. Harvested from 11th-26th September and cropped at 33.5hl/ha; a blend of 62% Cabernet Sauvignon/ 34% Merlot/ 1% Petit Verdot/ 3% Cabernet Franc, aged in 65% new oak. 13% abv.

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GUARANTEED PROVENANCE

Provenance in fine wine

When it comes to purchasing wine, provenance is of upmost importance. A wine’s history – where it’s sourced from and how it’s been stored – can have an enormous influence on the eventual enjoyment it provides. At Justerini & Brooks, we can trace nearly every case back to the domaine, estate or Château it originally came from; we ship from over 200 wine producers throughout the world.

Wines not bought directly from the vineyard are either sourced from trusted suppliers, with whom we share the same philosophy and rigour in buying, or from our own network of Cellarers customers. These customers’ wines are stored in optimal conditions in Octavian Corsham and, in the vast majority of cases, have been stored by us since the wine was first shipped. We do not purchase wine from auctions.

We feel it is equally important to for our customers that the case they buy and leave in storage with us is exactly the same case they subsequently have delivered. This may sound obvious and straightforward, yet we are one of very few merchants to have taken measures to ensure this.

We have created a system where every case is independent, thereby ensuring a trail of ownership and peace of mind for every customer.

The Journey

Justerinis ensures that every case of wine stored with Cellarers (Wines) Ltd has a unique identifier and customer’s name, almost unheard of in the industry as it is expensive to administer. These details are printed and placed on every case which is logged and recorded under your account name and kept in the world’s most renowned storage facility, Octavian Corsham.

This information is sent from our systems to the warehouse every day to ensure the trail of ownership is verified and upheld.

While customer reserves are stored in Corsham, our physical stocks are kept in Hoddesdon, further providing a geographical separation between customers’ wines with Cellarers and Justerinis’ own stock.

Further Reassurance

Cellarers (Wines) Ltd is a legally separate limited company from Justerini & Brooks which currently holds approximately £450 million worth of customer reserves. It is fully insured to catastrophic loss. Many merchants will state that wine in their care is fully insured, but in reality this is on an individual case basis with insufficient cover for total loss as this is prohibitively expensive. The cover provided by Octavian and Justerini & Brooks is unmatched.

Cellarers (Wines) Ltd is audited by PwC every year.

Critic Reviews

96/100

Lisa Perrotti-Brown,

The Wine Independent

This was an extreme vintage, with very little water and very hot. The 2003 Montrose is a blend of 62% Cabernet Sauvignon, 34% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc, and 1% Petit Verdot. Deep garnet-brick in color, it is a little closed to start off, soon unfurling to deliver evocative creme de cassis, blackberry preserves, and fruitcake scents, giving way to hints of tobacco leaf, new leather, dusty soil, and fennel seed. The medium-bodied palate is completely coated with black fruit and savory layers, supported by firm, chewy tannins and seamless freshness, finishing earthy.

drinking window 2023 - 2043

date of review 09/2023

92/100

Neal Martin,

Vinous

The 2003 Montrose has much more freshness than the 1983 tasted alongside. With blackberry, boysenberry, wilted iris flower, loam and clove, it's pretty complex and certainly more complex than the Lafon Rochet. The palate is medium-bodied with grainy, grippy tannins, powerful and burly. Firm tannins, this is serious and lacks a little flair and charm towards the finish at 20 years of age. Just a bit static at the moment. Tasted at the château.

drinking window 2025 - 2045

date of review 08/2023

95/100

Jane Anson,

Inside Bordeaux

Famously a successful 2003, due to the location of Montrose next to the river at a spot when the Estuary is opening up, around 3km wide at this point, bringing essential breezes in the heat. There are still some pretty tight tannins even at going on 20 years old, and overall this is just so spicy and yet juicy. Roasted plums and blackberries, liqourice root, pencil lead, spiced cinnamon and turmeric, with fresher bay leaf and saffron notes on the finish. Love it.

drinking window 2022 - 2034

date of review 06/2022

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12.5%

allergen information

This product may contain sulphites. Full allergen information is available upon request, please call our Customer Relations Team on +44 (0)20 7484 6430.