CHÂTEAU LE TERTRE RÔTEBOEUF
2017 Grand Cru Classé Saint Emilion
100% new oak. Sampled straight from the barrel in their charming traditional cellar. Lots of toasty oak on the nose framing wild red and plum fruit. Nina Mitjavile described the vintage as 'up and down' with periods of sun and periods of rain. She thinks the wine is 'traditional' in style but with a lovely 'spicy and fresh' signature. Once the oak recedes, this will begin to show off the remarkable complexity and easy concentration underneath. There is so much to look forward to - dried fruit, tobacco and a saline hit that keeps everything high-toned, savoury and incredibly moreish. A hugely impressive wine in the making that will likely end up at the top end of our banded score. Drinking range: 2025 - 2040 Rating: 92-94 L&S (Apr 2018)
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Beautifully fragrant, this is a great example of limestone terroir encouraging floral aromatics, particularly in lighter vintages such as 2017 (I am thoroughly enjoying the 2017 vintage right now by the way, and just a few days ago had a delicious example of the neighbouring wine, Larcis Ducasse). Expect a swirl of gunsmoke, plenty of rich and juicy blueberry and blackberry fruits, violets, peonies, cloves and cumin. Traditionally the southen slopes of St Emilion were called the most Burgundian of the region, and there is a touch of Musigny about this. 100% new oak for ageing. Easily one of the wines of the vintage, tasting even better with six years under its belt, brilliant stuff from François Mitjavile. Rating: 97 Jane Anson, www.janeanson.com (Nov 2023)
The 2017 Tertre-Rôteboeuf is once again one of the wines of the year. Deep, unctuous and concentrated, the 2017 is wonderfully rich from start to finish. Inky dark cherry, chocolate, licorice and cloves all open up in the glass. The 2017 is going to need a few years to soften, as the tannins are pretty imposing, and yet all the elements are in place for it to develop into a great wine. Tertre-Rôteboeuf remains one of the most distinctive wines in all of Bordeaux. Wow. Drinking range: 2025 - 2047 Rating: 97 Antonio Galloni, www.vinous.com (Mar 2020)
The 2017 Tertre-Rôteboeuf has Saint-Émilion blood pumping through its veins, although this 2017 has tones of Left Bank, subtle cigar box and smoke aromas infusing the tightly knit red fruit, a faint marine influence in the background. The palate is silky smooth on the entry with a fine line of acidity, quite savory in character with cracked black pepper and a touch of spice on the persistent finish. There is a nice "bite" to this Tertre-Rôteboeuf and it should give over 20 years of drinking pleasure. Drinking range: 2024 - 2048 Rating: 94 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Feb 2020)
The 2017 Tertre-Rôteboeuf was picked towards the end of September (François Mitjavile said he was getting too old to remember!) The bouquet is a real doppelgänger for a Burgundy, perhaps something from Morey-Saint-Denis. It is certainly very pure, not as flamboyant as the previous two vintages but intense and focused. The palate is medium-bodied with fine, grainy tannin. I love the salinity of this 2017...you can feel the mouth tingling long after the wine has departed. The acidity is very well judged, the oak seamlessly integrated and barely perceptible, a feat that I do not think any other Saint-Émilion achieves to the same degree as here. There are notes of sea salt and black pepper towards the finish, just a hint of tobacco. Both delicious and cerebral, this is a Tertre-Rôteboeuf that will benefit from four or five years in bottle. Drinking range: 2023 - 2040 Rating: 93-95 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (May 2018)
As on the other wines from the Mitjavile family that are aged in 100% new Radoux Blend barrels, in this vintage the oak and a charry character seem more noticeable than usual, though here it is offset by the pretty red fruit that is waiting in the wings: succulent, sweet dark-red and plum fruit. Juicy and fresh but does need to see the oak recede. The tannins are deep yet many-layered and fine. Rich and long. Drinking range: 2025 - 2040 Rating: 17++ Julia Harding MW, www.JancisRobinson.com (Apr 2018)
This wine from François Mitjavile always reflects the planting in the vineyard, which is 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Franc. There was absolutely no frost damage here, François Mitjavile's son Louis tells me, and so there is no reason for these figures to be any different this year. The harvest on all the Mitjavile domaines ran from September 20th until the 28th, which Louis says is the earliest vintage for at least twenty years. This note is based on a sample of one pipette drawn straight from a single barrel, so make of it what you will (this will be true of all Tertre Roteboeuf tasting notes by the way, so it is something authors should make clear). There is a lot of depth to the fruit on the nose here, all dark smoky plums, tense tobacco and spice oak, as well as a little matchsticky reduction. It feels so concentrated and focused on the palate, so tense and yet also supple, carrying the flavours of black olives, dried black plums, blackberries even, laced with toast and cigar box oak, but the wine copes with it all so well. It is fresh, slightly reductive, wonderfully direct and poised. This is magnificent, and once again it is one of the top wines of the vintage, a masterclass in concentration and sinew, savoury and yet fresh, with nothing fat or overdone. Rating: 96-98 Chris Kissack, www.thewinedoctor.com (Apr 2018)
Château Le Tertre Rôteboeuf
The cellar at Tertre Rôteboeuf is something to behold. Dark, unpretentious with vine roots growing along the walls - it's the complete opposite of the grandeur experienced at other Right Bank Châteaux. Very refreshing indeed. It is a slice of the best sort of Burgundian charm nestled amongst the local grandees. Francois Mitjavile has the air of a chaotic creative - but this cellar is beautifully ordered and he fashions wines of stunning beauty here, aromatic and wonderfully complex. Year after year. This 6HA property remains a hard to get hold of Cult classic and a visit here is a real highlight of our annual trip to the region. In 1987 he purchased a second property in the Côtes de Bourg, Roc des Cambes. The wines here share much of the family feel and are well worth hunting out too.