Tasting Notes
Wine Advocate 99+
Just as it was from barrel, the 2023 Montrose is one of the most compelling wines of the vintage. Unwinding in the glass with a brooding bouquet of cassis, violets and burning embers, it’s full-bodied, with prodigious mid-palate density and dimension, its concentrated core of fruit underpinned by abundant but ultra-refined tannins and lively acids. Broad, penetrating and persistent, it’s a blend of 75% Cabernet Sauvignon, 21% Merlot and 4% Cabernet Franc. This is a very serious wine, carrying plenty of structure; but while it will certainly require some patience, today’s more precise extraction and elevage choices mean that it will not mandate the 20-30 years of deferred gratification that were once the norm at this address, even if I’m convinced the 2023 will be just as long-lived as the classics of the past.
