Chateau Montrose La Dame de Montrose 2016
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James
Suckling -
Jeb
Dunnuck -
Wine
Enthusiast - Decanter
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Robert
Parker
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
The color is dense and deep. The complex, expressive and indulgent nose unveils aromas of ripe fruit and spicy notes on aeration. The full and round palate shows good complexity. There are notes of well-ripened black fruit, licorice and vanilla. The tannic structure and freshness of the fruit are perfectly in balance. Long and persistent finish.
Blend: 52% Merlot, 35% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11% Petit Verdot, 2% Cabernet Franc
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Extremely perfumed and beautiful with bright, violet and plum aromas. Full to medium body, very fine and firm tannins and transparent fruit. Linear and refined with a very long finish. Second wine of Château Montrose.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2016 Dame de Montrose is also gorgeous, and the second wines of Bordeaux continue to gain in quality. A blend of 52% Merlot, 35% Cabernet Sauvignon, and the rest Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot, aged in 30% new oak, this beauty has impressive amounts of creme de cassis, graphite, violets, and damp earth that give way to a medium to full-bodied, layered, pure, and seamless beauty that has real class. It’s well worth seeking out and will hopefully help you to keep your hands off the grand vin for at least a few years.
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Wine Enthusiast
Tannins are very present in this dense wine. But so are vibrant, crisp black-currant flavors and acidity. The combination of tannins and fresh acidity will drive this second wine of Château Montrose forward. Drink from 2023.
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Decanter
A little subdued right now but the fresh, floral edging of the grand vin is also clear here, balanced by juicy black fruit flavours and a similar sense of restraint. The blend of 52% Merlot, 35% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11% Petit Verdot and 2% Cabernet Franc represents 42% of the estate's production.
Barrel Sample -
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2016 La Dame de Montrose is deep garnet-purple colored and gives up cassis, earth, tilled soil, truffles and chocolate-covered cherries on the nose. Medium-bodied, the palate is firm, elegant and restrained with a mineral finish.
Other Vintages
2021-
James
Suckling - Vinous
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Robert
Parker -
Jeb
Dunnuck
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James
Suckling - Vinous
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Wine
Spectator
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Spectator -
Jeb
Dunnuck
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Wine
Enthusiast -
James
Suckling - Decanter
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Robert
Parker -
Jeb
Dunnuck
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James
Suckling -
Wine
Enthusiast -
Jeb
Dunnuck -
Robert
Parker - Decanter
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Wine
Enthusiast - Decanter
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Jeb
Dunnuck
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Wine
Enthusiast -
James
Suckling -
Jeb
Dunnuck -
Wine
Spectator - Decanter
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Wine
Enthusiast -
James
Suckling
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Wine
Enthusiast -
James
Suckling
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Robert
Parker -
James
Suckling -
Wine
Enthusiast -
Wine
Spectator
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Wine
Enthusiast -
James
Suckling -
Robert
Parker -
Wine
Spectator
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Wine
Enthusiast -
James
Suckling
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Wine
Spectator
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Robert
Parker
An extensive renovation program with very strict environmental objectives has been carried out at the estate since it was acquired by Martin and Olivier Bouygues in 2006, reflecting the new owners’ determination to perpetuate the quality of the wine and make Chateau Montrose a model of skilled winemaking and sustainable development.
Under the direction of Hervé Berland since 2012, the estate has 68 employees in the vineyard and winery, all of whom share the same philosophy: respect for the terroir and a constant quest for excellence. That philosophy is manifested in meticulous vineyard practices, very precise parcel selection and use of only the best grapes to make the premium wine, Chateau Montrose.
The other qualities are used to make the second wine, La Dame de Montrose, and the third wine, Le Saint-Estèphe de Montrose.
One of the world’s most classic and popular styles of red wine, Bordeaux-inspired blends have spread from their homeland in France to nearly every corner of the New World. Typically based on either Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot and supported by Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot, the best of these are densely hued, fragrant, full of fruit and boast a structure that begs for cellar time. Somm Secret—Blends from Bordeaux are generally earthier compared to those from the New World, which tend to be fruit-dominant.
Deeply colored, concentrated, and distinctive, St. Estephe is the go-to for great, age-worthy and reliable Bordeaux reds. Separated from Pauillac merely by a stream, St. Estephe is the farthest northwest of the highest classed villages of the Haut Medoc and is therefore subject to the most intense maritime influence of the Atlantic.
St. Estephe soils are rich in gravel like all of the best sites of the Haut Medoc but here the formation of gravel over clay creates a cooler atmosphere for its vines compared to those in the villages farther downstream. This results in delayed ripening and wines with higher acidity compared to the other villages.
While they can seem a bit austere when young, St. Estephe reds prove to live very long in the cellar. Traitionally dominated by Cabernet Sauvignon, many producers now add a significant proportion of Merlot to the blend, which will soften any sharp edges of the more tannic, Cabernet.
The St. Estephe village contains two second growths, Chateau Montrose and Cos d’Estournel.