Winemaker Notes
This wine does not include the blanket 10% tariff imposed in April 2025. When the wines are shippable in fall of 2027, customers will have the option to pay any tariff in place at the time or to keep their wines stored in a temperature-controlled facility free of charge in France.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2024 Château Montrose is on another level and clearly one of the wines of the vintage. Based on 80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 17% Merlot, and 3% Cabernet Franc, it's aging in 60% new barrels. Gorgeous notes of cassis, violets, graphite, and smoky tobacco all emerge from the glass. Medium to full-bodied, it has remarkable purity, fine yet building tannins, and a great finish. Coming in at 13% alcohol with a pH of 3.5, this estate continues to deliver First Growth quality year after year.
Barrel Sample: 94-97 -
James Suckling
This shows finesse and elegance as well as plenty of subtle red currant and blackcurrant character. Medium-bodied with refinement and length. Tender, vivid and pure. Extremely well done in a difficult year.
Barrel Sample: 96-97 -
Decanter
Vivid deep colour in the glass. High acidity as well as sweet and sour fruit make the first impression - lifted and charming this has a fun personality while being structured and long. Fine tannins support the blackcurrant and chocolate elements and I love the licks of wet stone on the finish. A little charged, somewhat unusually for the vintage, but the concentration really works. You don't get the impression they struggled at all. Great texture and balance. Very impressive. Optical sorting.
Barrel Sample: 96 -
Vinous
The 2024 Montrose exudes Cabernet Sauvignon character in its aromatic savoriness and tannic structure. In fact, the 2024 has the most Cabernet Sauvignon ever. Tightly wound today, the 2024 impresses with its energy and focus. There's a bit less mid-palate and overall heft than most years, as well as a brighter fruit profile. Floral, spice and mineral overtones lend brightness throughout. The 2024 is a super-classic, nervy Montrose that will need a number of years to be at its most expressive. Aging is projected to be 18 months, with 60% new oak. –Antonio Galloni
Barrel Sample: 94-96 -
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
A blend of 80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 17% Merlot and 3% Cabernet Franc, the 2024 Montrose is a serious, muscular effort that numbers among the wines of the vintage. Unwinding in the glass with notes of cassis, burning embers, cigar wrapper and iris, it's medium to full-bodied, dense and layered, with a lively spine of acidity, rich structuring tannins and a long, penetrating finish. With both the highest proportion of Cabernet Sauvignon recorded at Montrose and a rather low pH of 3.55, it will surely number among the longest lived 2024 Bordeaux.
Barrel Sample: 93-95
One of the world’s most classic and popular styles of red wine, Bordeaux-inspired blends have spread from their homeland in France to nearly every corner of the New World. Typically based on either Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot and supported by Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot, the best of these are densely hued, fragrant, full of fruit and boast a structure that begs for cellar time. Somm Secret—Blends from Bordeaux are generally earthier compared to those from the New World, which tend to be fruit-dominant.
Deeply colored, concentrated, and distinctive, St. Estephe is the go-to for great, age-worthy and reliable Bordeaux reds. Separated from Pauillac merely by a stream, St. Estephe is the farthest northwest of the highest classed villages of the Haut Medoc and is therefore subject to the most intense maritime influence of the Atlantic.
St. Estephe soils are rich in gravel like all of the best sites of the Haut Medoc but here the formation of gravel over clay creates a cooler atmosphere for its vines compared to those in the villages farther downstream. This results in delayed ripening and wines with higher acidity compared to the other villages.
While they can seem a bit austere when young, St. Estephe reds prove to live very long in the cellar. Traitionally dominated by Cabernet Sauvignon, many producers now add a significant proportion of Merlot to the blend, which will soften any sharp edges of the more tannic, Cabernet.
The St. Estephe village contains two second growths, Chateau Montrose and Cos d’Estournel.