CHÂTEAU LES ORMES DE PEZ
2016 Cru Bourgeois Exceptionnel Saint Estèphe
52% Merlot, 42% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Cabernet Franc, 1% Petit Verdot. Tasted at the château with the rest of the Lynch Bages stable. The Ormes de Pez has plenty of juicy blackberry and blackcurrant fruit on the nose. There is also some violet and graphite. On the palate there is creamy fruit and lively acidity but the tannins are quite billowing and grippy. Overall it is quite a serious wine that will need time to round out. At the UGC tasting it showed a generous gourmand side which was slightly lacking at the château. Good Value. Drinking range: 2024 - 2035 Rating: 90-92 L&S (Apr 2017)
* 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.
A brilliant St Estèphe value in a vintage where you can almost buy blind in this appellation. Tight tannins even after a few hours of opening in bottle (not decanting), this has lashings of bitter dark chocolate, cocoa beans, espresso, cinammon shavings, mandarin peel and damson fruits, this has many years ahead of it. Owned by the Cazes family of Lynch Bages, 45% new oak. On deep gravel soils, picked by hand between September 27 and October 11, on its second year of optical sorting at this point. Drinking range: 2022 - 2036 Rating: 94 Jane Anson, Decanter (Oct 2022)
The 2016 Les Ormes de Pez has an open bouquet of red plum, wild strawberry, leather and sous-bois aromas. The palate is medium-bodied with pliant tannins, displaying more roundness and softness than its peers, but thankfully harmonious and lightly spiced (Szechuan peppers?) on the finish. Nice persistence here, and probably a more approachable Saint-Estèphe. Returning after 15 minutes, I noticed just a little more leafiness on the finish. Tasted blind at the Southwold tasting. Drinking range: 2020 - 2045 Rating: 91 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Aug 2020)
A terrific Saint-Estephe that delivers the goods, the 2016 Château Ormes de Pez is mostly Merlot blended with 42% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Cabernet Franc, and 1% Petit Verdot, all brought up in 45% new French oak. This medium to full-bodied effort has impressive ripeness and concentration as well as tannic structure to go with notes of ripe black cherries, graphite, smoked earth, and background oak. Beautifully textured, it’s going to benefit from short-term cellaring and keep for two decades. Drinking range: 2023 - 2043 Rating: 92 Jeb Dunnuck, www.jebdunnuck.com (Feb 2019)
The 2016 Ormes de Pez is a very expressive wine. Iron, smoke, savory herbs, licorice, pomegranate and blood orange all give the 2016 a distinctly feral, savory quality to play off the bright red toned fruit. Supple and pliant in the glass, with lovely complexity, the 2016 is wonderfully complex and nuanced. This pleasantly rustic, hearty Saint-Estèphe will drink well upon release. Drinking range: 2021 - 2031 Rating: 92 Antonio Galloni, www.vinous.com (Jan 2019)
The 2016 Les Ormes de Pez is a blend of 42% Cabernet Sauvignon, 52% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Franc and 1% Petit Verdot picked from 28 September until 12 October. It has an impressive bouquet: blackcurrants, boysenberry and crème de cassis, all with very well integrated new oak. There is a lot of panache here, a word perhaps I have not associated with this Saint Estèphe in recent years. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannin, a lovely grainy texture, quite pure with lovely blackberry, melted tar and slightly savory, almost meaty notes. Harmonious right to the end, this is an excellent Les Ormes de Pez that seems to revel in the 2016 vintage. This might be one of the best wines from the estate. Drinking range: 2022 - 2045 Rating: 92-94 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Apr 2017)
Deep colour and unusually sweet nose for a St-Estèphe. Voluptuous ripe cassis and then masses of tannins on the end. Slightly drying end and even a bit of heat. Sandpaper tannins. But good, ripe fruit. Drinking range: 2024 - 2038 Rating: 16.5 Jancis Robinson OBE MW - www.JancisRobinson.com (Apr 2017)
This sports a juicy core of damson plum and red currant fruit, backed by a strong mineral edge that lends ample cut and drive to the finish. Shows pleasant austerity, with the structure to age. Rating: 90-93 James Molesworth, The Wine Spectator (Apr 2017)
Powerful and structured with lots of blueberry, blackberry and currant character. Full-bodied, tight and tannic yet polished and beautiful. Fantastic. Juicy. Rating: 93-94 James Suckling, www.jamessuckling.com (Apr 2017)
The Cazes family's property in St-Estèphe, which for a drinking wine is going to be hard to beat this year. Juicy and utterly delicious, it has freshness and a great menthol character with finely grained tannins. It manages to deliver the Médoc signature without falling over itself. Mostly Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon with a dash of Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot, planted on clay-limestone and gravels, aged in 45% new oak. 3.69pH. Drinking range: 2024 - 2040 Rating: 93 Jane Anson, Decanter (Apr 2017)
The 2016 Ormes de Pez is soft, fleshy and open-knit, all qualities that will make it easy to enjoy pretty much upon release. Hints of smoke, tobacco, scorched earth and anise add aromatic complexity, but above all else, the 2016 is a wine built on lovely fruit intensity and radiance. A burst of sweet red cherry and plum punctuates a racy finish with exotic overtones. Cabernet Sauvignon yields were down because of small berries, which increases the presence of Merlot in the blend. This is very nicely done. Rating: 89-91 Antonio Galloni, www.vinous.com (Apr 2017)
The yields were low on the Cabernet Sauvignon at Ormes de Pez in 2016, so this contains the lowest ever percentage of the grape. For all that, it doesn’t lack structure or focus: dense, black-fruited and winningly oaked with a twist of fennel. Drinking range: 2024 - 2030 Rating: 92 Tim Atkin MW, www.timatkin.com (Apr 2017)
The 2016 Les Ormes de Pez has an open bouquet of red plum, wild strawberry, leather and sous-bois aromas. The palate is medium-bodied with pliant tannins, displaying more roundness and softness than its peers, but thankfully harmonious and lightly spiced (Szechuan peppers?) on the finish. Nice persistence here, and probably a more approachable Saint-Estèphe. Returning after 15 minutes, I noticed just a little more leafiness on the finish. Tasted blind at the Southwold tasting. Drinking range: 2020 - 2045 Rating: 91 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Dec 1899)
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.