Winemaker Notes
The color is dense and deep. The complex, expressive and indulgent nose unveils aromas of ripe fruit and spicy notes on aeration. The full and round palate shows good complexity. There are notes of well-ripened black fruit, licorice and vanilla. The tannic structure and freshness of the fruit are perfectly in balance. Long and persistent finish.
Blend: 52% Merlot, 35% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11% Petit Verdot, 2% Cabernet Franc
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2016 Dame de Montrose is also gorgeous, and the second wines of Bordeaux continue to gain in quality. A blend of 52% Merlot, 35% Cabernet Sauvignon, and the rest Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot, aged in 30% new oak, this beauty has impressive amounts of creme de cassis, graphite, violets, and damp earth that give way to a medium to full-bodied, layered, pure, and seamless beauty that has real class. It’s well worth seeking out and will hopefully help you to keep your hands off the grand vin for at least a few years.
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James Suckling
Extremely perfumed and beautiful with bright, violet and plum aromas. Full to medium body, very fine and firm tannins and transparent fruit. Linear and refined with a very long finish. Second wine of Château Montrose.
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Decanter
A little subdued right now but the fresh, floral edging of the grand vin is also clear here, balanced by juicy black fruit flavours and a similar sense of restraint. The blend of 52% Merlot, 35% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11% Petit Verdot and 2% Cabernet Franc represents 42% of the estate's production.
Barrel Sample -
Wine Enthusiast
Tannins are very present in this dense wine. But so are vibrant, crisp black-currant flavors and acidity. The combination of tannins and fresh acidity will drive this second wine of Château Montrose forward. Drink from 2023.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2016 La Dame de Montrose is deep garnet-purple colored and gives up cassis, earth, tilled soil, truffles and chocolate-covered cherries on the nose. Medium-bodied, the palate is firm, elegant and restrained with a mineral finish.
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.