Chateau Montrose 2006

DECANTER: "Beautiful, rich and incredibly softly textured, this is still very young. Also supremely measured and stately, with buttery tannins. The palate is just starting to show truffles and leather, but is still set against game, cassis and liquorice root. Great persistency and a real sense of lift on the finish."

LISA PERROTTI-BROWN: "This is the first vintage with the new owners. Jean-Bernard Delmas started with this vintage and drastically reduced the amount of wine going into the Grand Vin. The 2006 Montrose, 72% Cabernet Sauvignon and 28% Merlot, is deep garnet-brick in color. It rolls out of the glass with mature, ready-to-go scents of blackcurrant jelly, dried cherries, and mulberries, leading to wafts of incense, iron ore, wild thyme, and potpourri. The medium-bodied palate offers a good amount of black fruit and savory layers with a chewy texture and alluring tension, finishing long and minerally. This should age gracefully for another 15 years+."

WINE ENTHUSIAST: "Yes, this wine is tannic. To begin with it seems austere and mineral. But then the substrate of black berry juice asserts itself. The fruits are fresh rather than sweet, combining with leather, spice and a presence of new wood. Typical of Montrose, it is hard to appreciate this young, with those tannins needing to open out. But wait 10 years."

THE WINE CELLAR INSIDER: "Big, powerful, dense and tannic, this is a step back into the more, strict, severe styling with a strong, strict, tannic edge. The fruit is ripe, there is concentration, but the tannins are severe, and the fruit, is on the bright, fresh side of the style range. Time could bring this around, but I am not sure it will change the style of the vintage. Lovers of old-school Cabernet Sauvignon Bordeaux blends could enjoy this more than I did."

WINE SPECTATOR: "There´s currant, spice, chocolate and berry character on the nose. Deep, complex and full-bodied, with chewy tannins and a long, flavorful finish. A solid wine. Chewy. Best after 2014."

JAMES SUCKLING: "** Montrose is so typically Saint-Estephe in 2006, with dried spices such cardamom and cloves as well as delicate currants. Full-bodied, with firm tannins and a dense center palate. It needs another three or four years of bottle age to soften. SAQ Website/Find the wine "

WEINWISSER: "Sehr dunkle Farbe, Karmesinrot mit purpur-schwarzen Reflexen. Schwarzbeeriges, trockenes Bouquet, Rauchnoten, dunkle Hölzer, Trüffel, ein Hauch Geraniol vom Cabernet, Tabakblatt, eine massive, tiefgründige Erscheinung vom Nasenbild her. Fester, griffiger Gaumen, zupackende Adstringenz, nach sehr viel Flaschenreife verlangend, alles im schwarzbeerigen Bereich bleibend, fordernd, maskulin, auch eine gewisse Härte zeigend, für einen St-Estèphe zwar durchaus opportun, aber für einen Cru doch nur schwer tolerierbare Härte, mit dem weiteren Fassausbau gewisse Kanten noch schleifend, aber es bleibt fraglich, ob dieses «Gerbstoffmonster» in 10 oder gar erst 20 Jahren wirklich Freude machen wird. Potenzial eventuell noch höher einzustufen als unsere momentane Wertung."

FALSTAFF: "Kräftiges Rubingranat, zarter violetter Rand. In der Nase eher verhalten, zart nach frischen Zwetschken und Kirschen, etwas Mandarinenschalen. Am Gaumen rotbeerig, engmaschig, die Säure ist ziemlich dominant, kraftvolle Tannine, zarte Adstringenz, hat nicht den Zauber der letzten Jahre, Finale auf schwarzem Tee, mittlere Länge im Moment, Bitterschokolade im Nachhall."