Chateau Monbousquet - St. Emilion Grand Cru 2020 (Pre-arrival) (750ml)

"The 2020 Château Monbousquet is lights-out good, offering a full-bodied, concentrated, opulent profile as well as notes of ripe black cherries, cassis, chocolate, and leafy herbs. With terrific purity, velvety tannins, and incredible richness as well as a remarkable sense of freshness, it's going to evolve for 15+ years in cold cellars."

"A lush wave of boysenberry, blackberry and black cherry reduction notes unfurls slowly over a refined spine of chalk, while sweet tobacco, violet, iris, licorice and apple wood notes fill in liberally. Everything stays in lockstep through the very long finish."

Decanter 92 points
"Perfumed and heady with blue fruits and bramble. Lean and straight, there’s a real austerity to this, serious liquorice on the palate, a touch dry, you get the feeling of heat and fruit. A little reserved right now; tense and serious, but has backbone and weight. It’s dark, savoury, coiled and tense, with drive and texture, displaying tobacco, graphite and an iron, mineral tang."

Wine Advocate 91-93 
"The 2020 Monbousquet is a blend of 70% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Franc and 15% Cabernet Sauvignon, coming in with an alcohol of 14.69% and a pH of 3.75. It is aging in French oak barriques, 50% new. With a deep purple-black color, it prances out of the glass with showy scents of crushed black plums, mulberries and Morello cherries, plus touches of dried Provence herbs, charcoal and forest floor. The medium to full-bodied palate delivers expressive black and red berry layers, framed by plush tannins and just enough freshness, finishing on a fragrant earth note."