La Conseillante 2021

Once again you see the subtle floral character of Pomerol in this vintage, and here is a classically balanced La Conseillante. Need to give it a bit of time in the glass to get the creamy mid-palate, but the structure is not closing in on itself as the bigger vintages do at this stage, so you see the silky tannins and fresh acidities. Draws out through the palate, clear salinity on the finish that maintains grip and lift, gentle spice on the finish, white pepper and clove, a very pretty wine, should be ready to drink in three or four years and for 15 years to come. Director Marielle Cazeaux. Michel Rolland consultant. Harvest September 28 to October 12, 39hl/h yield, 70% new oak with 3% amphora and 3.5% press wine. Simple 150th anniversary engraving on the bottle, but the label the same as ever.

A superb effort that transcends the challenges of the vintage, the 2021 La Conseillante offers up a beautifully perfumed nose of wild berries, raspberry coulis, violets, exotic spices and vine smoke. Medium to full-bodied, supple and enveloping, it's a sensual, seamless wine that's deep and layered, structured around supple tannins and lively acids. Perfumed and penetrating, the 2021 isn't the most powerful wine this estate has produced, but it brilliantly exemplifies the rare structural elegance and almost Burgundian aromatic range that so often set this great estate apart from the rest of the Pomerol appellation. It's a blend of 85% Merlot and 15% Cabernet Franc.

Flavoursome, sculpted, successful, this is rippling with violet and rosebud aromatics, followed by raspberry and black cherry fruits. It maintains momentum through the mid palate with a creamy texture and gourmet touches of liquorice root, cocoa bean and precisely-expressed slate minerality. Harvest began the latest ever, on September 28 through to October 12, 39hl/h yield, almost exactly average for the property (the average in Pomerol this year was closer to 29hl/h), from 9.77ha of vines in production, 3.6ph, 70% new oak with 3% amphora and 3.5% press wine. A successful showing for the 150th vintage of the estate from director Marielle Cazeaux. Michel Rolland consultant.