Clos du Marquis 2019

I continue to just love this terroir. The 2019 Clos Du Marquis brings beautiful richness and depth with the purity and elegance of the vintage. Cassis, smoked black cherries, tobacco, gravelly earth, and spice are just some of the nuances, and it's medium to full-bodied, with a rich, dense mid-palate, serious, almost chewy tannins, and a great finish. It's not for those looking for instant gratification and demands a good decade of bottle age.

The 2019 Clos du Marquis is very well defined, almost pixelated, on the nose of blackberry, briar, crushed stone and cedar. This is more floral than the barrel sample sent to my home. The palate is medium-bodied with fine-grained tannins, layers of black fruit laced with licorice and orange sorbet, and more grip and backbone toward the finish, which means, I suspect, that it will require longer in bottle. 14.10% alcohol. 2026 - 2048

The 2019 Clos du Marquis was picked from 21 September to 9 October and matured in 50% new oak. It has a deep and quite penetrating bouquet: blackberry, hoisin intermingling with cedar and light pencil shaving scents. It becomes noticeably richer with aeration. The palate is medium-bodied with firm tannins that frame the vivid blackberry and wild strawberry fruit laced with orange sorbet. There is a citric freshness towards the end of this accomplished Clos du Marquis. Excellent. 2024 - 2048

So bright and vivid with crushed blackcurrants, blackberries and some tar. Full-bodied and focused with lots of fruit, yet the tannins are tight and polished. Sweet tobacco and fresh mushrooms. 70% cabernet sauvignon, 23% merlot and 7% cabernet franc.

The 2019 Clos du Marquis is composed of 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 7% Cabernet Franc and 23% Merlot, harvested between the 21st of September and 9th of October. It is aging in French oak barriques, 50% new. The alcohol is 14.1% with a pH of 3.62 and an IPT of 79. Displaying a deep purple-black color, the nose is a little reticent to begin, but with just a little coaxing, it soon opens out to show off impressively flamboyant notes of blackberry preserves, baked plums and blackcurrant pastilles with suggestions of cinnamon toast, Darjeeling tea, licorice and camphor plus a hint of wilted roses. Medium to full-bodied, the palate layers in all of these exciting mineral sparks with with the energetic, fresh black fruits, supported by rock-solid, ripe, grainy tannins and bold freshness, finishing long and earthy. This a very polished and sophisticated Clos du Marquis!