Chateau Tertre Roteboeuf 2020

JEB DUNNUCK: "Another absolutely perfect wine in this incredible vintage, the 2020 Château Tertre Roteboeuf comes from a tiny hillside vineyard (5.6 hectares) and is 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Franc raised all in new Radoux barrels. This show-stopping wine has everything and reveals a dense purple hue, incredible aromatics of cassis, vanilla bean, burning embers, graphite, and smoke tobacco, full-bodied richness, flawless integration of its tannins and acidity, and a massive finish. The finest wine I've ever tasted from this address, it's not going to hit maturity for another 7-8 years and will be a 30+-year wine. Hats off to the team of François Mitjavile for another singular, sexy, absolutely off-the-charts wine."

THE WINE CELLAR INSIDER: "Opulent, exotic, and sensuously-textured, the perfectly ripe, deep fruits are intense, sweet, fresh, long, spicy and earthy and opulently textured. There is intensity along with opulence and purity in every sip. This uniquely styled wine stands out in a crowd and should age and evolve for at least 2 decades or more with little effort. Drink from 2026-2048."

THE WINE ADVOCATE: "The 2020 Le Tertre Roteboeuf will delight admirers of Mitjaville's singular style. Unfurling in the glass with aromas of rich dark berries and plums mingled with black truffles, exotic spices, espresso roast, cedar, vine smoke and toasty new oak, it's full-bodied, layered and velvety, with an ample core of ripe, heady fruit framed by sweet, powdery tannins, concluding with a long, sapid finish."

FALSTAFF: "Tiefdunkles Rubingranat, opaker Kern, violette Reflexe, zarte Randaufhellung. Feine Röstaromen, ein Hauch von Dörrpflaumen, etwas Nougat, feine Edelholzwürze, einladendes Bukett. Saftig, elegant, frische reife Herzkirschen, integrierte Tannine, salzig-mineralischer Nachhall, etwas Karamell im Abgang, gute Länge, sicheres Reifepotenzial."

JAMES SUCKLING: "Focused aromas of blackberries and blackcurrants with hints of dark chocolate, mint and graphite. Medium to full body, round and medium velvety tannins. Lovely berry and hazelnut character in the aftertaste. Juicy at the end with clarity. Already so attractive but give it two or three years to come together."

DECANTER: "This is a powerful, deeply focused and intense. Plenty of spice, cassis pastille, intense muscular tannins, fairly closed and austere right now, but a real sense of lift and juice becomes clear after 10 minutes of opening in the glass. Harvest began on September 21st, the earliest since Mitjavile arrived at the estate. Recently had the beautiful 1998 of Tertre Roteboeuf, and it is easy to see that this vintage also will allow the limestone terroir to become clearer with bottle age."

JANCIS ROBINSON: "Seductive and just a little decadent as always en primeur with a mix of toasted, mocha notes from the oak and red-berry fruit. Dense, rich and ripe on the palate, the ripeness pushed just to the limit. Supple tannins but a structure for ageing, the alcohol offset by a stony freshness."