Chateau Le Crock 2019 Saint-Estephe Cru Bourgeois Exceptionnel

Full ruby with light violet highlights. Simply stunning presence, sweeps you off your feet. This presence was apparent first pour then again five hours later when I revisited my glass, the only change had been an increase in intensity and delineation. 

Very St.-Estephe on the nose, with incense and dried raspberry mingling with baked earth, Latakia and Virginia blend tobacco, and grilled herbs. In the background there are deeper pitched aromas of crushed blackberry, cigar wrapper, and some marine tones. 

Palate is as regionally classic as the label: streamlined and linear yet with ample bucolic charm. This is not Montrose or Cos after all. Red fruits lead, pressed raspberry and red cherry and blackberry, then cedar and bay, thyme in support and slight shucked oyster shell. Fine, yes. Delicious, certainly. - David