Montrose

Tasting Notes:
Fashioned from a blend of 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 31% Merlot, and the rest Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot, the 2005 Montrose exhibits huge tannin, powerful floral, blueberry, and cassis flavors, and more weight as well as richness than last year. While surprisingly high in alcohol (13.2%) for a Montrose, that component is nicely balanced by the high tannin and decent acidity. This blockbuster will need a decade or more of cellaring. Anticipated maturity: 2017-2040+. The Wine Advocate #170 Apr-07.
Parker Points: 95
Drinking Period: 2017-2040

Tasting Notes:
Fashioned from a blend of 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 31% Merlot, and the rest Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot, the 2005 Montrose exhibits huge tannin, powerful floral, blueberry, and cassis flavors, and more weight as well as richness than last year. While surprisingly high in alcohol (13.2%) for a Montrose, that component is nicely balanced by the high tannin and decent acidity. This blockbuster will need a decade or more of cellaring. Anticipated maturity: 2017-2040+. The Wine Advocate #170 Apr-07.
Parker Points: 95
Drinking Period: 2017-2040

Tasting Notes:
The enormous 2003 Montrose is built along the lines of the 1989 rather than the 1990. It boasts a dense black/purple color in addition to an extraordinary bouquet of scorched earth, blackberries, and cassis, fabulous purity, a skyscraper-like texture, and substantial tannin in the finish. This superb, huge, ripe wine is one of the vintage's most prodigious offerings. However, patience will be essential for anyone purchasing this 2003. Robert Parker Wine Advocate
Parker Points: 97
Drinking Period: 2010-2035

Tasting Notes:
A classic effort, the 1998 Montrose exhibits a dense purple color in addition to a sweet nose of jammy cassis, licorice, earth, and smoke. It is a powerful and full-bodied wine with well-integrated tannin. Given Montrose's tendency to shut down, it is performing better out of bottle than I expected. Robert Parker Wine Advocate
Parker Points: 90
Drinking Period: 2005-2030

Tasting Notes:
In several tastings last year, the 1990 Montrose clearly revealed its incredible complexity and massive character. I was especially pleased when, at a large lecture I gave in London at the end of March, the 1990 Montrose, in very tough company (Cheval Blanc 1989 and 1990, Pichon-Lalande 1989 and 1990, Certan de May 1989 and 1990), proved the over-whelming choice of a crowd of nearly 400 British tasters. The wine is remarkably rich, with a distinctive nose of sweet, jammy fruit, liquefied minerals, new saddle leather, and grilled steak. In the mouth, the enormous concentration, extract, high glycerin, and sweet tannin slide across the palate with considerable ease. It is a huge, corpulent, awesomely-endowed wine that is still relatively approachable, as it has not yet begun to shut down and lose its baby fat. It thoroughly embarrassed the 1989, itself an exceptional wine. The 1990 needs 10 more years of cellaring; it should last for 25-30, possibly 40-50 years. Wine Advocate # 109 Feb 1997
Parker Points: 100
Drinking Period: 2007 - 2037

Tasting Notes:
An outstanding Montrose, the 1989 is one of the vintage's stars. It possesses an opaque dark ruby/purple color, a sweet nose of minerals, black fruits, cedar, and wood, dense, medium to full-bodied, highly extracted flavors, low acidity, and moderate tannin in the long finish. While it appears to be closing down far more quickly than the legendary 1990, it has layers of sweet fruit as well as an elevated level of glycerin. Give it 5-7 years of cellaring, and drink it over the subsequent 2-3 decades. Last tasted 3/97 Robert Parker Wine Advocate
Parker Points: 96
Drinking Period: 2002-2032