La Dame de Montrose, St Estèphe, 2009
Montrose's second wine is a very serious offering in 2009. 18% Cabernet Sauvignon and 82% Merlot, Dame de Montrose poses as a mini Montrose, offering a brooding, complex bouquet of dark berries, herbs, earth, cut flowers and cooked meats. There is a wonderful minerality to this as well as a really structured fruit core. The flavours are persistent, pure and fresh. This is a very masculine Dame.
critic reviews
The last vintage before the integration of parcels behind the chateau formerly belonging to Phelan Segur, the 2009 La Dame de Montrose offers up rich aromas of dark berries, pencil shavings, fig jam, dark chocolate and loamy soil. Medium to full-bodied, supple and velvety, it's rich, seamless and enveloping, far outperforming its second wine status. La Dame represents 25% of the estate's production this year.
The 2009 La Dame de Montrose is broody and backward on the nose, just a touch of reduction that soon blows off, yet the predominantly black fruit remains tight, fleeting hints of bayleaf and black tea surfacing with time. The palate is medium-bodied with grainy tannin, quite compact in style but rather linear and missing some complexity/personality towards the finish. Maybe this has something up its sleeve? We will no doubt find out. Tasted blind at Farr Vintners’ 2009 Bordeaux tasting.