Château La Conseillante 2025

A really assured La Conseillante with exceptional balance and so much pleasure to offer. Fragrant aromas on the nose with floral aspects, violets, some savoury earthy notes, black chocolate, vanilla, cinnamon spice, blood orange and iron. Smooth and sapid with such vibrant energy straight away – quite tight tannins still, firm and streamlined but really delicate and precise. A grip of liquorice and flint on the finish means this ends cool, crisp and spiced. Really nuanced in flavours, a little darker and more complex in aromatics than La Conseillante can sometimes be, yet with such intensity and no heaviness. It would have been easy to make a more muscular wine but this is sleek and so defined. The team applied zinc oxide as sunscreen and used mulching to protect soil humidity. First time including Cabernet Sauvignon in the blend. 3.66pH. A yield of 30hl/ha. 85% grand vin (never reached this high before). Ageing in 70% new oak and 30% one-year-old barrels (no amphora this year).

Violets, lilacs, and chocolate drizzles, followed by plums, black cherries, blue fruits, licorice, smoke, and truffles, create the aromatic profile. On the palate, the wine is pure silk, velvet, and cashmere, perfectly suited to the seemingly endless waves of sweet, bright, plush fruits, with their freshness, elegance, and stunning sense of purity. The finish lingers past the 60-second mark and keeps going long after the wine has gone where it needs to be. One of the keys to the success of the dry 2025 vintage began a few years in advance, with the addition of compost to the vineyards, aiding water retention, helping the fruit gain maturity, and increasing yields. The wine blends 87% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc, and 3% Cabernet Sauvignon along with 8% press wine. 13.5% ABV, 3.66 pH. The harvest took place from August 28 to September 17. Yields were 30 hectoliters per hectare. Drink from 2030 to 2065. 98-100 Pts

Austere on the opening, takes a beat then shows a creamy character as it opens. In colour, like so many you will find a vivid ink, followed by traces of gourmet cocoa bean, damson, chalk, rose petal, slate and crayon. Clay and gravel soils here have been worked organically and biodynamically for many years, 70% new oak for ageing, 3.66ph. Overall harvest August 28 to September 17. 30hl/h yield. Marielle Cazeaux director. A clear contender for an upscore in bottle.

For the first time, Cabernet Sauvignon makes up part of the grand vin, accounting for 3%. The bouquet certainly shows freshness, though it is not solely attributable to the Cabernet Sauvignon. Rather, an overall sense of freshness emerges as one of the vintage’s common threads. Beyond its floral character, the bouquet reveals notes of black cherries and blackberries, along with a classic hint of cocoa bean. Smooth on the attack, the wine fully conveys the energy promised by the nose. It is driven by creamy tannins and a incisive structure that highlights its temperament while reinforcing its ambitions. This is a powerful, luminous, finely sculpted La Conseillante, guided by its verve and by the dedication of an entire team benefiting from the immense groundwork carried out over the past 10 years. A well-deserved return, after all! The finish stands out for its renewed fruit, freshness, and tension. Aging will undoubtedly confirm the excellence of this wine.