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The privilege as the first person outside the property to taste the 2021, their 150th anniversary cuvée of La Conseillante, with wine director Marielle Cazaux could have influenced my judgement, but I think not. I simply love this wine! A blend of 85% Merlot and 15% Cabernet Franc it combines juicy Pomerol succulence with mocha, coffee bean and dark cassis fruits, and then the fresh, racy, almost crispness of fruit gives it an uplift and energy. So harmonious, no one component overpowers the other, this is what fine wine is all about: excitement!
The privilege as the first person outside the property to taste the 2021, their 150th anniversary cuvée of La Conseillante, with wine director Marielle Cazaux could have influenced my judgement, but I think not. I simply love this wine! A blend of 85% Merlot and 15% Cabernet Franc it combines juicy Pomerol succulence with mocha, coffee bean and dark cassis fruits, and then the fresh, racy, almost crispness of fruit gives it an uplift and energy. So harmonious, no one component overpowers the other, this is what fine wine is all about: excitement!
The 2021 La Conseillante was picked the latest in memory, from September 28 until October 8, at 39hL/ha, and matured in 70% new oak. It comes in at 13.3% alcohol and a pH of 3.6. The beautifully defined bouquet offers blackberry, bilberry and light iris petal scents, just a suggestion of black truffle coming though with time. The harmonious palate is medium-bodied with fine tannins and lightly spiced red fruit. There is a very subtle ferrous note, lovely depth and grip on the finish, and a persistent aftertaste. A beautiful La Conseillante courtesy of winemaker Marielle Cazaux and her team. Drink 2027 - 2060
The 2021 is a super-classic La Conseillante the likes of which has not been made here in a very long time. A Pomerol of vibrancy and tension, the 2021 bristles with energy from start to finish. All the elements are so well-balanced. Aromatic and delineated, with terrific drive, the 2021 is so impressive in the early going. Dried herbs, licorice, mocha, cassis and blackberry open beautifully. The 70% new oak is already nicely integrated. To be sure, the 2021 is nervy and taut, as most wines are in this vintage. But it's all there. Drink 2031-2061
A superb effort that transcends the challenges of the vintage, the 2021 La Conseillante offers up a beautifully perfumed nose of wild berries, raspberry coulis, violets, exotic spices and vine smoke. Medium to full-bodied, supple and enveloping, it's a sensual, seamless wine that's deep and layered, structured around supple tannins and lively acids. Perfumed and penetrating, the 2021 isn't the most powerful wine this estate has produced, but it brilliantly exemplifies the rare structural elegance and almost Burgundian aromatic range that so often set this great estate apart from the rest of the Pomerol appellation. It's a blend of 85% Merlot and 15% Cabernet Franc.
It was clear within about two hours of tasting in the heartland of Pomerol that four pivotal producers that I visited had made stunning wines. So, in order to keep destroying the lies told before the campaign started, this is not a Cabernet vintage, nor is it a Merlot one. It is not a Left Bank vintage, nor is it a Right Bank one. It is nothing other than one thing – a forensic analysis, nay vinous audit, of every single estate’s fitness to deploy a finely drilled, immensely willing and able squads of teammates, whether they are in the field, in the chai, or both, to chaperone the finest grapes on their path to making the most complete and balanced wines possible. This has been achieved by all of those properties in this Report. Whether you gain Bronze, Silver or Gold scores is a moot point. But if you are here, on these pages, you have done a good job. But we all know why I am moved to taste this number of extremely young wines in a short space of time to determine those with the most potential to astound and amaze peoples’ senses. So, to La Conseillante – the 150th anniversary of this Château. Countless selfless employees and friends, under the guidance of a management team of prodigiously talented and excellence-focussed people, have made, yet again, a life-affirming wine. I know, having spent a few hours (only) over a goodly number of years, that winemaker Marielle Cazaux loves smooth, silky and pure wines. This is the starting point of her ambitions – a point at which few finish. But, in 2021, with the elements against her and her team, they simply knuckled down, shared equipment and bodies with her neighbour (Juliette at L’Evangile q.v.) and made the finest wine possible in this vintage. La Conseillante’s terroir is special. It has the innate ability to make astounding wines in hot years and cold years. Of course, La Conseillante is not alone in this skill, but the camaraderie, openness, and honesty here mean that tasters like me can understand how on earth this is possible. They ‘fought’ the frost. They had ‘great luck’. They kept ‘cool heads’. They were ‘amazed’ at the purity of the fruit. This is emotion triumphing, not just the vines triumphing over Mother Nature. Marielle and I talked about the ‘crumpled dune flower’ notes that I found over and over again in the greatest wines. It was here, too, at La Conseillante. But it was not everywhere. Why do the finest wines on both sides of the Gironde have this character, given that I felt it was a Cabernet Sauvignon trait (see my Margaux notes)? I found it again at Cheval Blanc in celestial Cabernet Franc and Merlot. Perhaps this is Bordeaux’s most elusive and essential pheromonal element – a magical spell I cannot resist. Either way, there are, I think, 12 wines that have this character in 2021, and they will remain in my taste memory forever as I seek out more and more and more. So, I wonder if it is relevant to record a traditional tasting note for this wine. It has a spellbinding perfume, an exquisite texture and the singular purity and persistence of the most outstanding red wines imaginable. So, on balance, I don’t think it is necessary.
Violets, incense, black raspberry, dark kirsch, plums, espresso, and earthy overtones crowd into the finish. Deeply colored, on the palate the wine is exactly as it should be, elegant, refined, lifted, vivacious, and energetic, with a savory edge to the earthy red fruits and a hint of oak that should become completely integrated with a few years time. Perhaps this is a modern day version of the 1985, which if you have not tasted it lately, has aged extremely well. The harvest took place September 28, October 10, making this the latest vintage in the history of the estate. The wine blends 85% Merlot with 15% Cabernet Franc, 13.3% ABV, 3.6 pH. The yields were 39 hectoliters per hectare. Drink from 2025-2050.
Flavoursome, sculpted, successful, this is rippling with violet and rosebud aromatics, followed by raspberry and black cherry fruits. It maintains momentum through the mid palate with a creamy texture and gourmet touches of liquorice root, cocoa bean and precisely-expressed slate minerality. Harvest began the latest ever, on September 28 through to October 12, 39hl/h yield, almost exactly average for the property (the average in Pomerol this year was closer to 29hl/h), from 9.77ha of vines in production, 3.6ph, 70% new oak with 3% amphora and 3.5% press wine. A successful showing for the 150th vintage of the estate from director Marielle Cazeaux. Michel Rolland consultant.
The small sub-region of Pomerol is situated north-east of the industrious city of Libourne. Pomerol's soils are predominately iron-rich clay with a smattering of gravel that produce wines with extraordinary power and depth. As a result of this clay-dominance, it has the highest percentage of Merlot planted in all of Bordeaux. Certain châteaux are produced exclusively from this grape, but most incorporate smaller quantities of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc as well. Despite its hefty (if not exclusive) proportion of Merlot, many people think of wines from this region as separate entities. As one wine aficionado stated recently, "It's not Merlot. It's Pomerol." Despite the region's small size, Pomerol contains some of the world's most sought after (and expensive) wines including Pétrus, Le Pin, Lafleur, l'Evangile and Vieux Château Certan. Unlike other Bordelais subregions, there is no system of classification. The châteaux are traded on reputation alone.
