CHÂTEAU LES ORMES DE PEZ
2015 Cru Bourgeois Exceptionnel Saint Estèphe
Bright well-defined red fruit nose and attack, decent volume and a good ripe dark 'autumn raspberry' fruit. Not massively complex, but very pleasing. Nice fruit continuation on the finish. 44% Cabernet Sauvignon, 49% Merlot, 6% Cabernet Franc, 1% Petit Verdot. Rating: 90-91 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 Ormes de Pez has a very austere nose. The fruit here seems to have ebbed more than its peers. The palate is medium-bodied with slightly grainy tannins. This is a relatively lightweight Ormes de Pez with a strict and conservative finish. Drinking range: 2025 - 2035 Rating: 88 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Jun 2025)
The 2015 Les Ormes de Pez has a refined bouquet of wild strawberry and cranberry notes, touches of oyster shell, a subtle estuarine influence that becomes accentuated with aeration. The palate is medium-bodied with fine-grained tannin, fresh and quite linear in style with correct finish that just lacks the flesh that would render this more enjoyable. Tasted blind at the Southwold 2015 Bordeaux tasting. Rating: 88 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Jul 2019)
What a lovely nose! The blackberry, smoke and earthy notes are beautifully interwoven — then there’s an equally impressive harmony of full, plush tannins and some real concentration. Needs until 2020 to give its best, but it's got many years ahead of it beyond that. Drinking range: 2020 - Rating: 94 James Suckling, www.jamessuckling.com (Feb 2018)
The 2015 Ormes de Pez is impeccable. Dark, pliant and inviting, the 2015 has much to recommend it. Smoke, graphite, licorice, lavender, herb and licorice nuances add complexity to this dark, virile Saint-Estèphe. All the elements are very nicely balanced. I would prefer to drink the 2015 over the next decade or so. I suspect the tannins will always remain a bit chunky, but the 2015 has so much to recommend it. Drinking range: 2020 - 2030 Rating: 90 Antonio Galloni, www.vinous.com (Feb 2018)
This doesn’t have the structure of some vintages - no bad thing for people who find St. Estèphe a little chewy - but it’s soft, spicy and plummy with attractive oak and good texture on the palate. Drinking range: 2020 - 2026 Rating: 91 Tim Atkin MW, www.timatkin.com (May 2016)
This has a dark, toasted, black-cherry nose, fresh and expressive, with a nice purity of fruit, and a lightly dusted sweetness. The palate is rather broad, loose and open at first, and the middle is the same, a little light in terms of concentration, with a rather warm structure, somewhat peppery and spiky. The tannins really dominate the finish, feeling somewhat rustic, coming through the less strongly textured fruit. Rating: 14-15/20 Chris Kissack, www.thewinedoctor.com (Apr 2016)
Very deep crimson. Mild but well-balanced aroma. Just a little lean on the palate. Not quite the drive of the best wines of the appellation. Steady Eddy of a wine. Marked acid on the end. Drinking range: 2023 - 2030 Rating: 16 Jancis Robinson OBE MW - www.JancisRobinson.com (Apr 2016)
Good crunchy fruit that is more polished than in the past. A classic, harmonious and modern wine. Drinking range: 2020 - 2028 Rating: 90 Steven Spurrier (Apr 2016)
The 2015 Les Ormes de Pez is a blend of 44% Cabernet Sauvignon, 49% Merlot, 6% Cabernet Franc and 7% Petit Verdot that is being matured in 45% new oak. It has a well-defined bouquet with blackberry and bilberry fruit, although compared to recent vintages, it does not quite possess the same fruit intensity, feels just a little muted at this stage. The palate is medium-bodied with grainy tannin, nicely balanced though a little angular at the moment. It needs just a bit more fruit to fill out the final third. Give this 4-5 years of bottle age and you will have a decent, if not top-tier Les Ormes de Pez. Drinking range: 2020 - 2035 Rating: 87-89 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Apr 2016)
The 2015 Les Ormes de Pez is an attractive Saint-Estèphe. Black cherry, plum, graphite, herbs, licorice and menthol add nuance throughout, but the 2015 shows the mid-weight personality that is typical of the vintage in Saint-Estèphe. I would prefer to drink the 2015 young, while the fruit retains its freshness. Rating: 87-89 Antonio Galloni, www.vinous.com (Apr 2016)
Tangy, with pomegranate and red currant notes laced with a wet pebble spine. Direct. Rating: 86—89 James Molesworth, The Wine Spectator (Apr 2016)
A solid and chewy red with blackberry and black currant character. Full body, chewy tannins. Fresh finsih. Rating: 91-92 James Suckling, www.jamessuckling.com (Mar 2016)
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.