Château Monbousquet Saint Emilion 2020

The 2020 Château Monbousquet is lights-out good, offering a full-bodied, concentrated, opulent profile as well as notes of ripe black cherries, cassis, chocolate, and leafy herbs. With terrific purity, velvety tannins, and incredible richness as well as a remarkable sense of freshness, it's going to evolve for 15+ years in cold cellars.

A lush wave of boysenberry, blackberry and black cherry reduction notes unfurls slowly over a refined spine of chalk, while sweet tobacco, violet, iris, licorice and apple wood notes fill in liberally. Everything stays in lockstep through the very long finish. Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon. Best from 2027 through 2042.

The 2020 Monbousquet is a heady, exotic wine. Blackberry jam, bittersweet chocolate, spice, new leather and espresso are all kicked up. Explosive and deep, the Monbousquet packs a serious punch. The tannins are pretty imposing today, but élevage should take care of that.