2020 Château La Conseillante
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Tasting notes
There is a lovely peppery spice to the oak that integrates beautifully with more lifted lavender and violet aromas in this Conseillante. The plummy, baked blueberry and blackberry fruits have fantastic levels of concentration, while never feeling heavy, heady or overripe. It is opulent but perfectly measured and that is what makes the wine so impressive. The density of tannins brings amazing weight to the mid-palate. It is rich, rounded and full-bodied, but there is a cooling mineral streak too, lending the wine lovely balance. This is powerful yet poised Pomerol of exceptional quality.
Critic scores
James Suckling
Jane Anson, Decanter
More reviews and scores
Tasted blind. Deepest crimson. Sweet, ripe and fresh black fruit with a minerally/stony elegance to the aroma. On the palate, the tannins chalky in texture, providing a firm framework. I went back to this because I thought I had been a bit mean and upped my score by half a point. (JH)
The 2020 La Conseillante has a beautifully composed, detailed bouquet with mineral-infused black fruit and touches of truffle and cedar. It gains intensity in the glass without losing any of its delineation. The palate is medium-bodied with saturated tannins. There's great depth and tension here, gliding toward a persistent finish with the salinity to urge you back for more. I marked this down a little because it lost a bit of energy in the glass when returning 20 minutes later, but it remains a serious Pomerol. Tasted blind at the annual Southwold tasting.
One of the wines of the vintage is the 2020 La Conseillante, a blend of 86% Merlot and 14% Cabernet Franc that wafts from the glass with inviting aromas of raspberries, red cherries and mulberries mingled with exotic spices, violets and rose petals. Medium to full-bodied, satiny and vibrant, it's a beautifully elegant, sensual wine with a deep core of fruit framed by powdery tannins, concluding with a long, extravagantly floral finish. This is a Pomerol of striking purity and sophistication. Congratulations to Marielle Cazaux and her team for surpassing even what they achieved in 2016 and 2019 with this brilliant 2020!