CHÂTEAU LA CONSEILLANTE
2015 Pomerol
It was probably unfortunate for Conseillante that we had come from VCC - and it suffers by the comparison. 19% Cabernet Franc, the rest Merlot, a very similar mix to VCC, but here there is a sense that they may have waited too long - it lacks a bit of freshness and zip, and the tasting is dominated by a sweet oak middle, which then dries rather harshly on the finish. Good but we'd hoped for more. Rating: 91-92 L&S (Apr 2016)
* 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 2015 La Conseillante has a vibrant, complex bouquet that soars from the glass with wild strawberry, blackberry, briar and black truffle shavings. There is more mineralité here compared to previous bottles encountered. The palate is very well balanced with wonderful poise and tension. It's harmonious and velvety in texture which disguises the backbone underneath. A deft sprinkle of black pepper enhances the finish and completes a marvelous La Conseillante. Tasted at the 2015 Ten-Year-On tasting at Bordeaux Index. Drinking range: 2025 - 2050 Rating: 96 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Jun 2025)
Powerfully ripe and rich berry fruits, loganberry and blueberry with crème caramel and burnished oak smoke. Unquestionably great quality, marked by the solar exuberance of the vintage. 75% new oak, 3.65ph. First year with Marielle Cazeaux as director and winemaker. 39.5hl/h yield. Drinking range: 2026 - 2045 Rating: 94 Jane Anson, Decanter (Nov 2021)
The 2015 La Conseillante has a refined bouquet with red currant, wild strawberry and rose petal aromas, beautifully defined and unfurling in the glass. A hint of black truffle emerges with aeration. The palate is medium-bodied with supple black cherry fruit, cassis and boysenberry. Quite slick toward the finish suggesting a little more extraction than its peers that smothers the mineralité I noted in the vertical last spring. But it is supremely well balanced and it should mature with style. I have encountered better bottles but it remains a great Pomerol. Tasted blind at the Southwold 2015 Bordeaux tasting. Rating: 94 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Jul 2019)
Aromas of tar, black olive skin and blackberries follow through to a full body. Ultra-fine tannins and a long, linear finish with super intensity. Well-crafted in every sense. A fabulous Pomerol for the future. Drinking range: 2022 - Rating: 98 James Suckling, www.jamessuckling.com (Feb 2018)
Newly-arrived Technical Director Marielle Cazaux turned out a jewel of a wine at La Conseillante in 2015, her debut vintage. A polished and super-sophisticated Pomerol, La Conseillante is all class. Precise, lifted aromatics make a strong first impression, but it is the wine's overall feel and sense of harmony that truly dazzle. Over the last two years, the 2015 seems to have gained in freshness, precision and nuance. What a wine! The blend is 81% Merlot, 19% Cabernet Franc. Don't' miss it. Drinking range: 2025 - 2040 Rating: 97 Antonio Galloni, www.vinous.com (Feb 2018)
There’s less of a gap in quality between the Grand Vin and the second wine (Duo) in 2015, partly because the latter is so good, but also because this is just a little OTT. Serious, tannic and quite extracted with a hint of jammyness on the finish. Needs a polish in barrel. Drinking range: 2022 - 2030 Rating: 93 Tim Atkin MW, www.timatkin.com (May 2016)
A new winemaker and the style tweaked a little in 2015. Fragrant nose but richer and denser with the tannic structure more assertive. Good attack and mid-palate but fit finishes on a slightly dry, grainy note. May improve in barrel. Drinking range: 2024 - 2035 Rating: 91 James Lawther MW, decanter.com (Apr 2016)
81% Merlot, 19% Cabernet Franc. Picked 21 September - 7 October. 70% new oak. Direct, savoury nose. New winemaker wants to keep the aromas of Conseillante but they want to add a little more grip. Sweet and fresh with some tea leaf aromas. The oak tannins are just perceptible but it should all calm down. Definitely quite grippy now! Drinking range: 2026 - 2040 Rating: 17.5 Jancis Robinson OBE MW - www.JancisRobinson.com (Apr 2016)
Marianne Cazaux, not long arrived from Château Petit Village, has settled on an assemblage of 81% Merlot, picked between September 21st and October 2nd, and 19% Cabernet Franc, picked from October 1st to the 7th. The yield was 39 hl/ha, and of this 75% has been channelled into the grand vin. This will go into 70% new oak. The alcohol is 14.5%. This is really very classically styled on the nose, a very pure style of Pomerol, with tense, fine and tightly defined dark fruits, overlaid with a minerally, potter's clay character. It is dark, fresh and very pure, poised, quite bright and correct. There is a very tense, medium-bodied character to it on the palate, with a very supple and succulent midpalate presence, with great freshness and poise. There is firm, ripe, very taut and sinewy tannins underneath it all, with great substance and depth laid over the top. On repeat tastes there are more oaky lactones apparent, but the raw material beneath is tip-top. Impressive. Rating: 17.5-18.5/20 Chris Kissack, www.thewinedoctor.com (Apr 2016)
The 2015 La Conseillante, a blend of 81% Merlot and 19% Cabernet Franc, is extraordinarily pure and elegant on the nose. Here, I find a little more red fruit than black fruit, extremely elegant and articulating the terroir with great clarity. At first, wild strawberry and cranberry, then crushed stone, a touch of black truffle and tobacco. The palate is medium-bodied, fresh and elegant with fine tannin on the entry. This is one of the most approachable La Conseillante wines that I have tasted in barrel, the acidity very well judged, "classic" in style, good backbone here with a structured finish. It does not quite possess the bravura of the 2010 La Conseillante and I would agree with winemaker Marielle Cazaux that it bears more semblances to the 2005 La Conseillante at this stage, and even bore common traits with its neighbour, Vieux Château Certan. This is an intellectual and to put it prosaically, "delicious" La Conseillante. Drinking range: 2021 - 2045 Rating: 95-97 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Apr 2016)
A total knockout, the 2015 La Conseillante possesses stunning depth, nuance and complexity. Soaring aromatics meld into a core of dark-fleshed stone fruits, with hints of mocha, crème de cassis, menthol, violets and dark spices that develop in the glass. The 2015 is not an obvious wine, but it is exceptionally beautiful. The blend is 81% Merlot, 19% Cabernet Franc. Don’t' miss it. Rating: 95-97 Antonio Galloni, www.vinous.com (Apr 2016)
This is the most powerful La Conseillante I have tasted with lots of muscle and intensity. Full and savory. Chewy. Agile and formed. Beautiful ripe fruit in the center palate. This is a little pushed to the limit like the great Conseillants of the 1960s and 1970s. Rating: 96-97 James Suckling, www.jamessuckling.com (Apr 2016)
Lush notes of dark fig, boysenberry and blackberry pâte de fruit glide over ample but velvety tannins, with suave black tea and ganache accents. This is long and should be gorgeous when finished. Rating: 93—96 James Molesworth, The Wine Spectator (Apr 2016)
Château La Conseillante
Château la Conseillante’s origins lay in an estate called Domaine de Mautretat that was broken up in the early years of the 18th Century with reverend gentleman called M. Léglise purchasing the part that became Château l’Evangile whilst Catherine Conseillan took the other. In 1871 Château la Conseillante was bought by the Nicolas family who own it to this day. With only the addition of a small plot of vines in 2014, the estate has remained the same ever since. The 12ha of vineyard are planted with 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Franc. The vineyards border Petrus to the north, and one can gaze across l’Evangile and see the vines of Château Cheval Blanc. Indeed, a small part of la Conseillante’s vineyard strays across into St Emilion, but is included in the main Pomerol cuvée. Château la Conseillante is a well-executed balancing act marrying tradition with modernity, something exemplified by the new cellar that opened in 2012.
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.