DAME DE MONTROSE
2015 Saint Estèphe Château Montrose
55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 41% Merlot, 4% Petit Verdot. Bright ruby red with blue edge. Mid-weight, some thickness of texture, but not that much. Fleshy, satisfactory middle with sappy purple fruit, and a sophisticated finish. Not terribly expressive, though. Rating: 89-90 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.
Montrose appears to have taken the slightly tricky harvest conditions in its stride in 2015, producing some stellar wines. This second label is spicy, peppery and intense, with a bloody, ferrous note to its tannins. It’s austere, yet wonderfully, unambiguously St. Estèphe. Drinking range: 2022 - 2035 Rating: 93 Tim Atkin MW, www.timatkin.com (May 2016)
The blend is 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 41% Merlot and 4% Petit Verdot. This is 41% of the crop, the remaining 23% going into a third wine, or sold off. Alcohol 13.4%. Quite a perfumed nose here, dusty and lightly chalky, with lightly powdered blackcurrant fruit, quite pure in its expression. There is a touch of gritty juniper berry and currant too, I think reflecting the desiccation and thick skins that come with this vintage. A charming palate, medium-bodied, pure, gently fleshy, more generous than Tronquoy-Lalande tasted alongside for sure, with a supple character. Firm, smoky dark fruits, with ripe tannins. Plush, charming, quite svelte in style, but no shortage of grip here either. Rating: 15.5-16.5/20 Chris Kissack, www.thewinedoctor.com (Apr 2016)
More Cabernet Sauvignon than usual in this wine: 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 41% Merlot, 4% Petit Verdot. Picked from 15 September to 8 October. Deep crimson. Scented and sleek. Very ripe and flattering. Not at all like the classic Montrose style - presumably deliberately made to be drunk young. Polished and even rather sweet! Not that St-Estèphe ... Drinking range: 2023 - 2030 Rating: 16.5 Jancis Robinson OBE MW - www.JancisRobinson.com (Apr 2016)
The 2015 La Dame de Montrose is a blend of 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 41% Merlot and 4% Petit Verdot that was picked between 15 September and 8 October. It has a perfumed, floral and pure bouquet with black cherries, blueberry and violets, all with commendable delineation for a deuxième vin. The palate is well balanced with a more sumptuous texture compared to its fellow Saint Estèphes, thanks to that lush Merlot that forms the core of this wine. It has commendable energy and feels approachable, therefore with 3-4 years in bottle, you should have yourself a fine if not exceptional La Dame de Montrose. Drinking range: 2019 - 2032 Rating: 88-90 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Apr 2016)
The 2015 La Dame de Montrose is a very pretty second wine. Dark, radiant and open-knit, yet with plenty of nuance, the 2015 offers lovely precision and silkiness throughout. The wine's mid-weight structure suggests it will drink well relatively early. Raspberry jam, white pepper and mineral notes add the closing shades of complexity. The 2015 is an attractive Saint-Estèphe, although it lacks the depth and overall follow through of the very best versions, but it makes up for that with its finesse. Rating: 89-91 Antonio Galloni, www.vinous.com (Apr 2016)
Polished tannins with lovely integration and finesse. Full body, round texture. Persistent finish. Second wine of Montrose. Rating: 91-92 James Suckling, www.jamessuckling.com (Mar 2016)
Château Montrose
St Estèphe Deuxième cru 1855 Wine production St Estèphe developed much later than further south in the Haut-Médoc - indeed, the vineyards of Château Montrose were not planted until 1815, when it was then part of the Calon-Ségur estate. Only 40 years later, not only had Montrose seperated from its parent, it had surpassed it, being one of only two St Estèphe estates to be awarded 2nd Growth status in the 1855 classification. Montrose sits nearer the river than Cos d'Estournel on classic Haut-Médoc gravel soil - the last outcrop as you head north. The 65ha of vines are 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot, 8% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot. The Grand Vin spends 18 months in wood (70% new). A second wine was introduced in 1983 - La Dame de Montrose - aged in wood for 12 months (20% new). Montrose is a noted performer in weaker vintages, possibly because of a generous micro-climate which allows slightly earlier picking than most of the Haut-Médoc. The wines age brilliantly.
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.