St. Émilion Red Bordeaux Blend

2016 vintage. Still a powerful wine, but much more finesse compared to the highly extracted wines from the nineties.

Mondot 2020. Merlot 100%.

Perfect right bank, Merlot dominant. Yes, a baby... but with an hour or two of air and the right food, really lovely.

Quite dense but poised. A little tang on the end.

Still fresh and lively. Felt like the perfect moment.

👃 Cherry jam, red fruits, spicy, leather
👄 Light tannins, elegant

2010 is the 1982 of our time.

Stuffy, stiff, and still young, I feel this is in a weird maturing stage right now. It wants to be bigger but lacks a lot of the depth and power I was hoping for. Dark berries, some flinty soil, super dry and up tight even after decanting for awhile. Light for all that too. Worth trying again in 4-5 years.

This certainly failed the drinkability test for me, but credit where credit’s due, it had excellent quality. The wine screamed opulence right from the get-go. Rich aromas of creamy cassis, vanilla, liquorice, and camphor, while air brought up some spice and whiffs of volatile acidity. On the palate, the tannins are immediately noticeable, hard almost, and sat firmly across the tongue. Full-bodied, round, plush, and filled to the brim with cream and sweet black fruits. Acidity felt almost non-existent under all that richness, but it was actually sufficiently balancing on closer inspection. Notably, the finish had immense length, driven by heaps of toasty new oak. Not a wine for me, but I can certainly appreciate its successes. Still needs lots of cellaring to tame the 11’ tannins, and maybe find that smidgen of elegance, if any at all.

Jam, earth, mineral, savory. Boozy.