Andrew Jefford | Dark black-red, though a little less saturatedly so than Calon-Ségur. Lots of pencil-lead and wet-coal aromas; some wood, too; and of course the dark blackcurrants at the heart of it all. Very refined aromas, if a touch austere. But you look and you look, and you see more and more: profound rather than superficial attractions. On the palate, you’ll find the aromas resumed. It is a challenging Montrose: deep, Gothic, searching. Austerity is not the wrong word. It’s concentrated, plunging, deep—and eventually rewarding, with spices, chocolate, and smoked meats buried right at the bottom of the treasure chest. | 94

Michael Schuster | Dense and aromatically complex to smell; full, fresh, finely but firmly tannic; rich, long, savory, complex wine; very long to taste, very long to finish; youthfully austere at the moment, a wine full of long-term promise and needing a decade and more in bottle to reward drinking but that will clearly be worth the wait! 2032–42+. | 94