| Region | |
|---|---|
| Subregion | France > Bordeaux > Left Bank > St Estèphe |
| Colour | Red |
| Type | Still |
The 2011 Les Ormes de Pez has an impressive bouquet, beautifully defined, not intense but precise, earthy black fruit mixed with tar and freshly rolled tobacco. The palate is medium-bodied with fine-grain tannins. Exquisite balance, not complex, but so much freshness with the most tension revealed on the finish. This was a bit of a turn up for the books and trumped some of Saint-Estèphe's more auspicious residents. Tasted blind at the annual 10-Year-On tasting. 2022 - 2036
Tasted blind at the 2011 Ten Years On tasting. Deep ruby garnet in colour. Briary fruit mixes with cedar and spice on the nose, layered with a hint of exotic plum sauce. The palate shows real precision of savoury fruit, with chalky tannins and compact proportions - this is a wine of real harmony. The tannins are now starting to soften, though a light decant would still benefit the aromatics and texture. The long finish of black fruit is increasingly savoury, bringing tones of undergrowth and cedar in abundance. Excellent value at ten years old, with another decade (or more) of life to come.
Tasted blind. Intense crimson. Rather soft and un St-Estèphe-like. Good fruit and friendliness. A solid effort with the tannins kicking in only on the very end.
Owned and made by the Cazes family of Lynch Bages, this is a consistently good wine and deserving of cru classé status. 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 7% Cabernet Franc, 41% Merlot, 2% Petit Verdot with ageing in 45% new oak. Deep garnet colour, with an earthy nose of forest floor, spiced plums and dark cherries. The palate is dark-fruited with soft, integrated tannins gently framing the core. Now maturing nicely with savoury, earthy tones adding nice complexity, this is fine, smoky and leathery through to the finish. A fine, mature wine at an excellent price point.
This non-classified St Estèphe is often a bargain in Bordeaux, and fingers crossed that it will be so this year, too. It's a classic St Estèphe, but with a little more finesse than some. The tannic power is more than balanced by the succulent black fruits, sweet oak and fresh acidity. The austerity will soften with age. 10+ years.
Finely expressed cassis fruit, slightly leathery and firm, good ripe middle palate and will show well. Drink 2014-2022.
The 2011 Les Ormes de Pez is a blend of 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 41% Merlot, 7% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot aged in 45% new oak. It has an intense, almost brutish bouquet that leaps out of the glass and grabs you by the lapels. It is sweet with cassis and blueberry jam aromas, a touch of graphite and scorched earth underneath. The palate has a tannic entry with a saline seam, edgy tannins that make this quite masculine with a sinewy finish. There is good substance here if not finesse, although there is fine persistency towards the finish. Tasted April 2012.
