CHÂTEAU LES ORMES DE PEZ
2014 Cru Bourgeois Exceptionnel Saint Estèphe
This has a grown-up, elegant feel to it. Still quite tight at this stage and not showy in anyway. Oak is quite pronounced, but there is lots of good, deep, fine fruit too. Very poised, a savoury note - this may take a moment to unravel, but looks good for a sophisticated, fun future. 47% Cabernet Sauvignon, 42% Merlot, 7% Cabernet Franc, 2% Petit Verdot. Only 45% New Oak. Rating: 90 L&S (Apr 2015)
* This is a pre-shipment/primeur offer. All orders are accepted under the TERMS of this offer which differ from the terms of the rest of the site.
The 2014 Ormes de Pez showed less well than expected in the previous Southwold tasting six years earlier. This is a completely different kettle of fish. It has a well-defined nose with fresh, marine-tinged black fruit, hints of tobacco and pressed flowers emerging with time. This is delineation and full of energy. The palate is medium-bodied with sapid black fruit, impressive depth and structure, yet it maintains freshness with a black olive and saline finish that gets the saliva flowing. Superb. Tasted blind at the Southwold 10-Year-On tasting. Drinking range: 2024 - 2044 Rating: 92 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Mar 2024)
Corked during the main Bordeaux Index tasting, so I opened a bottle that I had at home. A wine to sink into and share, one of the best values in this line up and very easy to recommend. Expect blackberry and loganberry fruit, fragrant and brambled showcasing the ripeness that was acheiveable in St Estèphe in the 20014 vintage. No need to wait too long, although it will continue to age, enjoy the mint leaf and fennel waves that unwind with the fruit. Fresh acidities, juicy finish. 45% new oak. Harvest September 29 to October 10. Drinking range: 2024 - 2032 Rating: 92 Jane Anson, Decanter (Feb 2024)
Easily a contender for best value St Estèphe, Ormes de Pez is owned by the Cazes family and delivers exceptional consistency. Balanced, relatively low alcohol, this is still pretty young and closed with firm tannins (I just had the 2009 vintage of this wine and it is joyful, so I would give this one another few years). There is punch here, with brambled autumnal blackberry and raspberry fruits, fragrant raspberry leaf, mint leaf and cherry tomato... all suggesting that acdities are fresh, but with character and charm. 45% new oak. Harvest September 29 to October 10. Drinking range: 2022 - 2032 Rating: 92 Jane Anson, Decanter (Oct 2022)
The 2014 Les Ormes de Pez has a slightly animally bouquet, earthy and mulch-like aromas filtering through the black fruit dusted with white pepper. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannin, a fine bead of acidity, very primal and needing to develop more harmony although I feel that the component parts are here. Hopefully this will coalesce with bottle age but at the moment it is a little disappointing. Tasted blind at the annual Southwold tasting. Drinking range: 2020 - 2030 Rating: 88 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Mar 2018)
Tasted blind. Simple, straightforward nose and bone dry on the palate. Lots of freshness and tannin. Stoniness on the end. Drinking range: 2024 - 2038 Rating: 16+ Jancis Robinson OBE MW - www.JancisRobinson.com (Feb 2018)
The 2014 Ormes de Pez is dark, powerful and quite intense. Plum, black cherry, smoke, grilled herbs and gravel give the wine its virile personality. Broad and ample in construction, the 2014 is also incredibly young and shuts down quickly in the glass, which is probably a good sign of its structure and potential to age. It is best cellared for at least a few years. This is a strong showing from the Cazes family. The blend is 47 % Cabernet Sauvignon, 42 % Merlot, 7 % Cabernet Franc and 2 % Petit Verdot. Drinking range: 2020 - 2034 Rating: 92 Antonio Galloni, www.vinous.com (Feb 2017)
The Château Ormes des Pez 2014 is a blend of 47% Cabernet Sauvignon, 44% Merlot, 7% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot picked from 24 September with the young merlot and finishing around 12 October. It was cropped at 32 hectoliter per hectare. Small red cherries and kirsch form the bouquet, quite forward and perfumed with touches of lavender emerging with continued aeration. The palate is medium-bodied, the tannins succulent for Les Ormes de Pez and imparting a fleshier and more approachable texture. This is nicely balanced with a touch of graphite on the finish lending it an almost Pauillac-like personality. Don't under-estimate this Saint Estèphe. Drinking range: 2019 - 2038 Rating: 90-92 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (May 2015)
A dark, sumptuous beauty, the 2014 Ormes de Pez offers up a compelling mélange of purplish and black fruit, smoke, grilled herbs and graphite, with quite a bit of density. Rich and voluptuous, the 2014 is a gorgeous Ormes de Pez that will drink well relatively early. Best of all, the 2014 may very well turn out to be one of the sleepers of this vintage. The blend is 47% Cabernet Sauvignon, 42% Merlot, 7% Cabernet Franc, 2% Petit Verdot Rating: 90-93 Antonio Galloni, www.vinous.com (Apr 2015)
A hint of sweet oak on the nose. Then admirable energy but a bit drying on the finish. A real go getter of a wine. Lots of tannins tucked in here but no excess acidity. A palate-dryer at the moment though. Drinking range: 2024 - 2040 Rating: 16.5+ Jancis Robinson OBE MW - www.JancisRobinson.com (Apr 2015)
Smoky fresh fragrant there is a lot happening on the nose and the start of the palate has bramble and bilberry freshness. Ripe in the middle the sweet fruit supported by fine tannins with at the back a firmer fresher feel the finish bright. Drinking range: 2024 - 2034 Rating: 85-89 Derek Smedley MW, www.dereksmedleymw.co.uk (Apr 2015)
From a château that performed extremely well in 2014, just like its stablemate Lynch-Bages, this is marked by the high, record-equalling percentage of Merlot, softening its rougher edges. Aromatic, textured and sweetly oaked, it gained concentration from the low yields of 32 hectolires per hectare. (One of Tim's Top 10 Value Reds.) Drinking range: 2020 - 2028 Rating: 93 Tim Atkin MW, www.timatkin.com (Apr 2015)
This is really fabulous with weight and length. Fine and chewy tannins. Goes on for a minute or two. Tiny production due to hail storms in May and June. Rating: 92-93 James Suckling, www.jamessuckling.com (Apr 2015)
Château Les Ormes de Pez
Château Les Ormes-de-Pez (French for The Elms of Pez) is a winery in the Saint-Estèphe appellation of the Bordeaux wine region of France, near the hamlet of Pez. The wine produced here was classified as one of 9 Cru Bourgeois Exceptionnels in the 2003 listing. Though this classification is currently annulled, it is expected to be revived by the 2009 vintage, but without use of the quality divisions such as "exceptionnel". The Château and buildings date from 1792, constructed after the division and sale of Château de Pez as a result of the French Revolution. During the 19th century it was owned by Marcel Alibert, also the owner of Château Belgrave, until it was sold in 1927 to the Société Civile du Haut Médoc. Financial trouble forced the estate to be sold on to Jean-Charles Cazes in 1930, who passed it on to his son André Cazes. To date the estate is owned by the Cazes family, also owners of Château Lynch-Bages. For many years the vinification took place at Lynch-Bages, but the cuvier and chai of Ormes-de-Pez were modernised before the 1981 vintage. After a long period of management by Jean-Michel Cazes, he has been succeeded by his son Jean-Charles Cazes. The vineyard area, divided into two blocks north and south of the village of Saint-Estèphe, extends 33 hectares (82 acres), with the grape varieties of 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Cabernet Franc and 20% Merlot. The annual production of the Grand vin Château Ormes de Pez is typically 15,000 cases.
Please make sure that you have read the terms of this offer which are different from those of the main website. If you are unclear as to what is involved in primeur purchases please do call us, but see the 'practical notes' below.
Ordering
Prices are per case as listed 'in bond London'.
Pre-Orders are a firm commitment from you to buy the wines you order on release, subject to the price being below the upper price of the estimated band on our website. You may also set your own upper price limit, lower or higher than ours. Pre-orders will be fulfilled subject to availability. Providing this firm commitment to us effectively gives you priority.
Wines listed on the website (after any pre-orders and allocations have been fulfilled) can be ordered in the usual way via the website order form or by email or telephone 020 7221 1982, always subject to stock remaining.
Confirmation
All orders will be confirmed by email and are contractually binding unless written cancellation is received within seven days of the confirmation date, apart from pre-orders which are binding if the release price is below the top estimate or other price you have set.
Invoices are raised at the In Bond price, excluding any duty and VAT which will become payable at the prevailing rates on arrival of the wine if required duty paid.
Payment is required on sight of invoice, by cash, cheque, debit card or credit transfer. We reserve the right to charge 2% per month on invoices unpaid after 30 days.
Delivery
- Shipment to our bond (LCB Creek Road) and insurance are included in the in bond price.
- Delivery is free to Lea and Sandeman / Elephant storage accounts, both duty paid and in bond.
- Other deliveries (In Bond and Duty Paid) are also free subject to a minimum order from the offer of £1000, orders below this total will be charged £16.50+ VAT when the wine invoices are issued. We will group deliveries and this is a charge for your entire purchases, not a per-case charge.
- Delivery for 2016 Bordeaux primeurs will probably be completed by October 2019, but we make no guarantee as to specific delivery times, and some of the Sauternes may be later.
Practical notes - how it works
We start a sale in each customer's name and add all their primeur orders to one sale which is invoiced at the end of the campaign (or when the customer wishes) for immediate payment. We and our customers find that having a single invoice for the vintage is the simpler option, but do please note that confirmed orders are still binding as above even if the final invoice has not been issued.
When the wine is shipped, unless previously specified we will assume that delivery is to be to bonded storage with Elephant Storage, but in any case, we will contact you requesting any alternative instructions. If you have another bonded delivery address you would like the wine to go to, please tell us at the time of ordering. If the wines are required duty-paid we will issue invoices at the rates prevailing at the time for the excise duty (currently £25.98 per case) and the VAT (currently at 20%) on the total of the wine cost and the duty.
Half-bottles, Magnums and larger bottles.
One of the additional advantages of buying en primeur is being able to order the wine in the bottle size you want. Even if a wine is only listed in one size, you can order any bottle or case size you want if the property supplies it, but you must order the case/bottle size you require and check that the correct size has been invoiced.
Additional charges are as follows:-
- +£15 per case of 24 half-bottles
- +£15 per case of 6 Magnums (2 bottles equivalent, 1.5 litres each)
- +£35 per individually boxed Double Magnum (4 bottles equivalent, 3 litres)
- +£45 per individually boxed Imperial (8 bottles equivalent, 6 litres) for Salmanazars, Balthazars, Nebuchadnezzars and Melchiors please enquire for availability and price.