Chateau Montrose 2025

Falstaff: Tiefdunkles Rubingranat, opaker Kern, violette Reflexe, zarte Randaufhellung. Kandierte Veilchen, Rosenduft, feines Cassis, ungemein verführerisch, zarte Edelholznote, schwarze Waldbeeren unterlegt. Komplex, stoffig, hochelegant, frisch strukturiert, reife, tragende Tannine, Brombeeren, Nougat und Kirschen im Abgang, bleibt lange haften, sicheres Reifepotenzial."

Wine Advocate: A timeless classic in the making, the 2025 Montrose unfurls in the glass with notes of dark berries, black truffle, burning embers and violets, gaining in range and detail with aeration. Full-bodied, dense and elegantly muscular, it's layered and multidimensional, with a prodigiously concentrated core of fruit, exceptional quality of tannin and a long, resonant finish. The 2025 is a blend of 77% Cabernet Sauvignon, 19% Merlot and 4% Cabernet Franc, derived exclusively from the estate's historic core on the fourth terrace situated just in front of the château itself. With a pH of 3.65 and 13.4% alcohol, it remains classically balanced despite its impressive power and intensity. Readers will have a fascinating time parsing the nuances of style and quality between the 2025, 2023 and 2022 over the decades to come!"

Vinum: (77% Cabernet Sauvignon, 19% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc) Was für ein Duft, strahlen rein, tiefgründig, nobel im Ausdruck, ein Korb von Brombeeren, unterlegt mit ausgeprägter Mineralik, Feigen, florale Noten, die Aromen das Barrique sind präsent, jedoch nicht überbordend; am Gaumen straff, fokussiert, voller Energie und Leben, die Tanninstruktur und -Qualität sind beeindruckend, der Wein ist saftig, gleitet trotz seiner ungemeinen Kraft schwerelos über die Zunge; im Abgang mit einer bemerkenswerten Balance und von grosser Länge. Für eine kleine Ewigkeit gebaut."

The Wine Cellar Insider: Cherries, cedar, Cuban cigar wrappers, blackberries, flowers, smoke and black raspberries provide the aromatic nuances. The palate is even better. Concentrated, deep, dark, and energetic, there is a sophisticated, lushness that delivers its regal tendencies while coating your mouth and palate with multiple layers of supple, rich, waves of black fruits, spice, and chocolate. Montrose is on quite the run. Just when you think they cannot produce a better wine, they come out with the 2025! This is the third vintage produced entirely from vines planted in Terrasse 4. The wine blends 77% Cabernet Sauvignon, 19% Merlot, and 4% Cabernet Franc. 13.4% ABV, pH 3.65 pH. Harvesting took place August 29 - September 20. This is the earliest start to harvest in the history in the history of the estate. Yields were 30 hectoliters per hectare. Drink from 2032-2070."

Jeb Dunnuck: A magical, utterly profound wine in the making, the 2025 Château Montrose is a classic blend of 77% Cabernet Sauvignon, 19% Merlot, and 4% Cabernet Franc that will spend 18 months in 60% new French oak, with 12% press wine included in the final blend. Pure cassis, graphite, liquid violets, and spicy wood define the aromatics, and it's sensationally pure on the palate, with full-bodied richness, beautiful concentration, ripe, polished tannins, incredible class, and a great finish. It reminds me of the 2016 with its finesse... and maybe there's a touch of 1996 here as well."

Lisa Perrotti-Brown: Deep garnet-purple colored, the 2025 Montrose erupts from the glass with intense notes of freshly crushed black currants, fresh blackberries, and mulberries, leading to suggestions of crushed rocks, black olives, violets, and forest floor with a touch of garrigue. The delicately styled, medium-bodied palate has a firm, fine-grained texture with a refreshing line and taut, muscular fruit, finishing long and earthy. The blend is 77% Cabernet Sauvignon, 19% Merlot, and 4% Cabernet Franc. It has a pH of 3.65 and the alcohol is 13.4%. It is aging for 18 months in oak barriques, 60% new."

James Suckling: Integrated and creamy tannins that are long and polished deliver an impressive palate of medium body, juicy fruit and a refined finish. Character of black and red currants with hazelnuts. Refined. Extremely long and polished, with plenty of Montrose character. Balanced. All there for the vintage. A blend of 77% cabernet sauvignon, 19% merlot and 4% cabernet franc."

Jane Anson: Deep and nuanced plum fruit on the opening, vivid ruby in colour with tension, lift and estate signature. An extremely classic Montrose, love the lift with the depth of cassis, cocoa bean, liquorice, crushed mint leaf, squid ink, crayon, a supremely Left Bank wine, very much in the 2023 vein for me, which was a vintage I adored. This has precision and beauty, the kind of En Primeur sample where you feel fresh and energised at the end of tasting it. 60% new oak for ageing, Pierre Graffeuille director."

Decanter: Vibrant purple colour in the glass. Amazing fragrance, so pure and crystalline - blackcurrants and violet notes. Silky and glossy, packed full of cherry and strawberry fruit with quite massy tannins but keeping a really cool and compact form. Structured with layers of elements but also a little granular, tight and spiced. Liquorice, cool cola and wet stone edges. Maybe less overtly charming and filling than in previous years, but this has a distinctly cool mineral edge and slightly grippy tannins on the finish. I like the style, it’s quite serious and terroir transparent. Ageing should soften this and relax a little. 3.65pH. 80 IPT. 12% press wine. Ageing 18 months, 60% new oak."