CHÂTEAU LA CONSEILLANTE

Winemaker Marielle Cazaux explained that she will remember 2020 as a vintage when all of her colleagues, not just the winemaking and viticultural teams, played a part in the vineyard. With the various challenges of lockdowns, kids school runs, and a desire to adhere to social distancing, while keeping the employees safe, La Conseillante operated an ‘all hands to the pump’ system which meant that they all multi-tasked and in doing so became more au fait with each other’s responsibilities. This team effort brought a new harmony and understanding to this estate and its employees and for this reason, despite some of the challenges which the weather presented, it was a very happy vintage and one in which every member of staff can genuinely say that they played a full role in making this wine taste so exquisite. Of course, a collaborative team, combined with some very happy vines is likely to make delicious wine. The clay soils at La Conseillante meant that while the summer was hot, and there was a degree of hydric stress, the vines did not suffer. They have learned a lot here over the last few warm vintages and so an adapted cover-crop, mulching as well as a careful (slightly earlier than normal) green harvest all contributed to a perfect vendange with all of the team involved. Harmony breeds harmony and 2020 La Conseillante is a quintessential creation which not only perfectly reflects the vintage but also acknowledges the human skill involved in making a wine of this elegance and distinction. Deeply perfumed at the same time as being refreshing aerial, the nose is sensational, drawing you deeper and deeper into the glass. With a luxurious black-fruited theme, the precision here is breath-taking and the balance is astonishing, too, given that the fruit is so profound. The finish is amazingly bright and alive, and the tannins are pure cashmere. This is one of the most elegant and complete wines of the vintage and I am sure it will starting drinking relatively early and then hold for three or four decades with ease. Rating: 19.5+/20 Matthew Jukes www.matthewjukes.com (May 2021)

There are some beautifully fragrant floral aromatics here with concentration through the mid palate and effortless balance. A little more width and opulence in the 2019 perhaps, but here you get precision and purity, and a feeling of 2010 levels of concentration. An elegant 2020, bright, confident, bursting with life. 70% new oak. A yield of 39hl/ha. 3.67pH. Gravel and clay soils, and to keep freshness they left crop cover on the old vines but on the young ploughed it into the soil so as not to have too much competition for the water. Lowered canopy also but kept shade and leaves around the bunches to protect from the sun. Picked early morning from 7am to noon, harvest of Merlot September 4 to 17, and the Cabernet Franc on September 21 and 30. Drinking range: 2027 - 2043 Rating: 96 Jane Anson, Decanter (May 2021)