2000 Château Montrose- France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Estèphe (5/3/2013)
A nose of blackberry fruit, plum, lavender, smoke, oak, leather and tons of lead pencil! Tight, tight, tight on the palate. Leathery. Needs time but patience will be rewarded. Don’t be tempted to touch this for 5+ years.
Thanks for the sacrifice, Kim. I have 4 bottles of this, and a few years back I bought a single 375 bottle of this for a pretty good price hoping to open it soon to get an idea of what this wine is like. Maybe even from a 375 it is still a little too early?
Thanks for checking in on these! I popped a 375 of the '03 a few weeks back. Montrose is a true, classic great. But rewards greater patience than we clearly possess!
I had this a few years ago up against both Pichon’s, Pape Clement, and all of the Leoville’s and was the unamimous WOTN…it holds so much promise. My WOTV so far.
Bob - While approachable, I’d wait on the .375’s too. The upside is so great. Aromatically, the wine was truly memorable. But all else was locked up - giving that black flatness on the palate. Texture was good, tannins were not harsh, and there was even good acidity. Wait it out and invite me for dinner!
Totally agree Kim! Thanks for this valuable update on the 6 bottles I own. I will be at Vinexpo in Bordeaux this year, and the St Estephe commune tends to host tastings of two vintages at Vinexpo. So when I went to the last one in Bordeaux, two years ago, I tried Montrose 2000 and 2008. I must say, the decription you provide here is not very different from my experience two years ago: Folks, Montrose 2000 is evolving at a glaaaaaaaaaaaaaaacial pace. Do not bother for at least 5, preferably 10 years. The 2008, tasted two years ago, was very impressive, and I would agree with Robert Parker’s assessment, based on that one tasting two years ago, at least.
I’m surprised that it is so “tight”, but I would have expected “unready”. But then I haven’t had any 2000s recently, so I don’t know how they are doing…
2000 Château Montrose > - Rene’s bottle. Wow, this was quite a switch. Comparatively big and burly, this is definitely the ripest, and most fruit-forward Montrose I’ve ever had (not too surprising, though, because of the vintage). Opulent alongside the aged Burgundy and Rioja, this had a lot of rolling muscle in its deep crème de cassis, bit of kirsch, blackberry, slight tobacco, new leather, dark minerality, black coffee, licorice and apparent, but judicious (the fruit can take it for sure) vanilla/oak. Tannic and youthful; this will last for many, many years I’d expect. Whoa! We continued with this, à la Bordelaise, with the Cheese Platter (which I forgot to photograph). Nice with the nutty Tomme de Savoie, I thought.
2000 Château Montrose > - From Rene. Macho Bordeaux from the get-go. Typical firm structure one expects from Montrose, but with the richer, riper, fuller fruit that marks vintage 2000. Though still young, it is already starting to show some development in its emerging earthy, leathery and sanguine nuances. Smoothly muscled red. Very good now, and I’d imagine this to be superb in another 10-15 years and hold for another 10+++. It certainly has the structure and stuffing for it.
Kim, funny you should use the word “dead” in reference to the palate! I’ve only got a few and I won’t be opening a bottle any time soon. It is surprising how few tasting notes there are for BK2. I had the Pape Clement and Giscours about three years ago and they were definitely still in deep slumbers as well.
Actually the 2000 Pape Clement I tried a couple years ago was within its drinking window, enjoyed by nearly everyone at the table, though there were a couple complaints about the international style. What was interesting was how the Merlot showed itself early, and the Cabernet came alive with 1-2 hours of air.
A few Cru Bourgeois are drinking nicely; especially a Lannesan that I had a couple of weeks ago. I will be tasting a couple of super seconds tomorrow, will report afterwards