Chateau La Serre 2020

WEINWISSER: "Berauschend schwarzbeeriges Bouquet, betörendes Veilchenparfüm, frisches Brombeergelee und Pfeifentabak. Am sublimen Gaumen mit seidiger Textur, reifer Extraktfülle, kakaoartigem Tanningerüst und balancierter Rasse, wohlgeformter Körper. Im komplexen langanhaltenden Finale Wildkirsche, dunkles Graphit und erhabene Adstringenz. Hier geht es einen halben Punkt nach oben! Gehört regelmäßig zu unseren Best- Buy-Empfehlungen."

JAMES SUCKLING: "A medium-bodied red with redcurrant, berry and light chocolate character. It’s creamy and chewy. Yet, it shows polish and refinement."

JEB DUNNUCK: "Including 15% Cabernet Franc, the Merlot-dominated 2020 Château La Serre comes from a 7-hectare vineyard of clay over limestone soils. It's another powerful, concentrated 2020 that has a load of fruit (black cherries, currants) as well as complex notes of loamy earth, spice box, and tobacco, with nicely integrated background oak. It has enough fruit and texture to offer pleasure today yet is going to evolve nicely for 20 years if well-stored."

DECANTER: "Dark and brooding, you can smell the heat from the vintage in the dark ripe fruits. Concentrated and intense straight away, but also really quite lively on the palate which shows a chewy and crunchy fruit profile. Acidity matches the crushed velvet tannins that settle on the tongue and mouth. Plush and dense. I love the extra ripeness you get here that stays on the right side of being too much. Lovely weight and depth. It’s slightly more bold and confident, but also just a lot of fun, maybe loses some detail because of the plushness, but there’s a real vein of cool classic touches with the terroir markers that keep it refined. Liquorice and mint on the end. Juicy, fun and long. Needs a bit more time. I love the red fruit elements, though, and the density."

THE WINE CELLAR INSIDER: "Medium/full-bodied, fresh, soft and silky, the wine requires just a little effort to entice all of its black cherries, plums, chocolate, espresso and licorice to come to the front of the perfume. Vibrant, with ample, sweet, ripe, lush fruits with a dose of salt that adds to the wines character. Polished lively and long, with sweetness and purity to the fruits that linger, this is the best vintage of La Serre I have ever tasted. Drink from 2024-2045."

FALSTAFF: "Kräftiges Rubingranat, violette Reflexe, dezente Ockerrandaufhellung. Zartes Bukett, ein Hauch von Orangenzesten, rote Kirschen, Noten von Gewürznelken und Zimt, rotbeerig unterlegt und einladend. Mittlere Komplexität, Herzkirschen, integrierte Tannine, mineralisch, feiner Gerbstoff im Nachhall, mittlere Länge, wirkt etwas verschlossen."

WINE SPECTATOR: " Showing a bit of charm, this wine still has the warmed fruit and light grainy feel of the vintage but comes across as lighter on its feet than most, with a mix of red and black cherry fruit, tea and incense backed by a friendly licorice note on the finish. Merlot and Cabernet Franc. Drink now through 2030. 2,000 cases made, 300 cases imported."