Winemaker Notes
Blend: 55% Merlot, 34% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Cabernet Franc, 5% Petit Verdot
Professional Ratings
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Vinous
The 2023 Ormes de Pez is a powerful, bold Saint-Estèphe. Black cherry, gravel, incense, chocolate, tobacco, licorice and cured meat infuse the 2023 with tons of Saint-Estèphe personality. Burly and rustic, in a good sense, the 2023 has tons of character. The Merlots feel pretty ripe and exuberant in this sample. –Antonio Galloni
Barrel Sample: 91-93 -
Decanter
Some nice aromatics, not massively expressive. Blackcurrant, plum and cranberry - all crisp fruit aspects. A little tart and high toned, but there’s such ripeness too so you get high acidity with quite concentration that give a wide mouthfeel and under it all there’s freshness and a cool mint tone. Lots going on with a steely core too. Not quite harmonised but will be lovely. 7% press wine. 6% Petit Verdot completes the blend.
Barrel Sample: 92 -
Jeb Dunnuck
A floral, complex wine, the 2023 Château Ormes De Pez offers red and black fruits, sappy spring flowers, and graphite on the nose. Medium to full-bodied, round, and supple on the palate, it has polished tannins and outstanding length. Based on 55% Merlot, 34% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Cabernet Franc, and 5% Petit Verdot and aged 16 months in 45% new French oak, it's a beautiful effort from this estate.
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James Suckling
Aromas of dark plums, violets, frozen strawberries and dark cherries. Tightly wound and a little grainy, with a medium to full body and a long, tight, slightly chewy finish. 55% merlot, 34% cabernet sauvignon, 6% cabernet franc and 5% petit verdot.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Approachable and open, the 2023 Ormes de Pez emerges from the glass with aromas of dark berries, flowers and licorice, discreetly accented by oak. Medium- to full-bodied, it is dense yet gently structured, offering good depth at the core and concluding with a long, mineral finish. Fresh and velvety, it offers immediate pleasure while retaining enough structure to evolve gracefully. This is a blend of 55% Merlot, 34% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Cabernet Franc and 5% Petit Verdot. Rating: 91+
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Wine Spectator
A bird of a different feather, with atypically succulent (for St.-Estèphe) loganberry and boysenberry fruit infused liberally with mesquite, dried anise and black tea. Glossy overall, with just enough savory/chalk through the finish to keep this honest. Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot.
Chateau Ormes de Pez has very homogenous soil (a clay gravel mixture typical of Saint-Estephe) and many of the vines are quite old. The grapes are hand-picked. After selecting the vats and blending, the wine is aged in oak barrels for 15 months in a magnificent cellar overlooking the courtyard.
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.