1994 Ch Montrose

Popped and poured over dinner with the family at Imperial Treasure T3 this evening. Still a deep impenetrable red at the core, lightening up towards the rim. Rather attractive on the nose with a lovely mix of red and dark berries as well as firm minerality (you can really smell that), but the wine was rather thin on the palate initially, devoid of much of the promised fruit, leaving just a structure of drying tannins and alcohol. After 45 minutes, the minerality on the nose grew in intensity, the fruit more forward as well, the wine fleshing out quite beautifully in bold strokes, becoming weightier with greater density and concentration, long-flavoured with notes of soy and rounded at the edges although I must say I didn’t quite get a sense of the St-Estephe terroir. More like a modern St-Emilion. Still, it’s rather fine.