Tertre Rôteboeuf, St Emilion Grand Cru, 2022
As one would expect from Francois Mitjavile's flagship wine, this is exotic and intoxicating. Produced from 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Franc this is classic Tertre Roteboeuf, with degraded fruit, the notion of smoky bacon and floral plums. At this stage the oak is quite dominant with lots of coconut and mahogany notes. The fruit is supple and veers towards the liqueury red fruit, Kirsch and some ripe griotte. Very much the house style, despite the opulent fruit, there is tension, a refreshing acidity all wrapped up in lavish tannins. Still St Emilions outlier.
critic reviews
The 2022 Tertre-Rôteboeuf is unequivocally the most backward on the nose and, despite aeration, it gives little away. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannins, a keen line of acidity, quite creamy and lactic in style. Dark chocolate manifests towards the finish. Lavish new oak here, plush, but this bottle is just a bit cloying, hence my question mark. Tasted blind at the Southwold tasting in London.
The aromatics of the 2022 from François Mitjavile display a fairly classic stance for young Tertre-Roteboeuf, with sweet black fruits, showing a lightly degraded sense of maturity, with toasted Darnajou oak and a wrapping of reduction. The palate continues with a surprisingly silky and polished character, with dark savoury fruits, blackberries, olives and liquorice resting on layers and layers of rightly knit, fully ripened tannins which fill out the palate with a remarkable density and breadth. A delicious composition, dark, savoury, structured with ripe grip, and yet fresh and light-footed, this is destined to be a super Tertre-Roteboeuf, even if the alcohol on the label comes in at 15%.
The texture is the first thing that strikes you here, with pummice stone salinity and an unfussy, luxurious uncurling of flavours that makes you want to pull up a chair and take your time. Plenty of tar, cloves, liqourice and grilled cedar, alongside blackberry and raspberry fruit laced with pomegranate and orange peel bitterness, not avoiding but leaning into the vintage conditions. Confident and full of limestone character, just a beautiful wine from the Mitjavile family in a year full of paradox. Harvest October 1-2. 100% new oak, medium plus toasting, which is where this tar grilling comes from. No crushing of the grapes but full destemming, no cold soaks, unfiltered until just before bottling. 100% of the vineyard always in Tertre Roteboeuf.
Both the suavest and the most exotic cuvee in the Mitjaville portfolio, the 2022 Le Tertre Roteboeuf is a full-bodied, supple and fleshy wine evocative of blackberries, espresso roast, rose petals, spices and smoked meats. Concentrated, refined and seamless, it concludes with a long, aromatic finish. Readers might think of it as a cousin of the 2009 vintage, with its sweetness of fruit but rather ethereal, harmonious profile, which stands in contrast with more overtly powerful years, such as 2020 or 2010.