2022 Monbousquet (St-Emilion)

The 2022 Monbousquet is gorgeous. Rich, deep and explosive, the 2022 offers up an exotic melange of sumptuous red/purplish fruit, lavender, mint and rose petal. Curvy and sumptuous, with striking fruit purity, Monbousquet is super-impressive in this tasting. 92-94 points

This is exuberant, with the creamy texture to the blackberry and black cherry fruits that is found so often in the vintage. Ink, graphite, chocolate, heading towards overly sweet which drops the momentum towards the finish. 3.83ph, 30hl/h yields. 50% new oak. Testing cover crops to look at lowering soil temperature, but mainly this year they turned the soil during the growing season to avoid it hardening in the heat. 89 points

The 2022 Monbousquet was picked 15 to 27 September at 30hL/ha (due to smaller berries) with 14.28% alcohol. Ripe and opulent on the nose, quite pure in style, this goes out to seduce, though it does not present the same complexity as some of its peers. The palate is medium-bodied with a sweet and candied opening, liquorice-infused black fruit that grips the mouth with blueberry on the finish. Quite firm with a lot of backbone. It needs to soften during elevage. 88-90 points