Wine Advisor
La Conseillante 2017
View analysis
Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Lisa Perrotti-Brown
Medium to deep garnet-purple colored, the 2017 La Conseillante sashays out of the glass with the most gorgeous notes of lilacs, Black Forest cake, kirsch and black raspberries plus nuances of cinnamon stick, dark chocolate and licorice. Medium to full-bodied, the palate has a firm, finely grained texture with bags of perfumed black fruits and wonderful freshness, finishing very long and very fragrant.
Reviewed by: Lisa Perrotti-Brown
The 2017 La Conseillante displays a deep garnet-purple color and simply sings of crushed blueberries, mulberries and ripe plums with suggestions of violets, chocolate box, rose hip tea and a waft of menthol. The palate is medium-bodied with impressive richness at this elegant weight coupled with vivacity and supported by plush, velvety tannins, finishing with great length and energy. This is an arrestingly beautiful expression of this vintage!
Reviewed by: Antonio Galloni
The 2017 La Conseillante is a regal wine. Lithe and statuesque in the glass, La Conseillante soars with real vertical intensity. Sweet floral aromatics and silky tannins give the 2017 much of its understated, classy personality. Inky dark blue/purplish fruit, spice, licorice and lavender develop with a bit of time, but it is the wine's balance and extreme sense of harmony that stand out most. Technical Director Marielle Cazaux gave the fruit about 2 days on the skins, with no SO2 at crush. Cazaux added that the malos were quite fast. The blend is 85% Merlot and 15% Cabernet Franc. Frost reduced production by around 15%, while drought further reduced yields in the Franc by a further 10%. This is a fabulous showing.
Reviewed by: Antonio Galloni
The 2017 La Conseillante is a wine of total finesse and class. Bright, floral and beautifully lifted, the 2017 is exceptionally polished and nuanced from start to finish. Despite its mid-weight, gracious personality, the 2017 has real staying power. Technical Director Marielle Cazaux gave the fruit about 2 days on the skins, with no SO2 at crush. Cazaux added that the malos were quite fast. The blend is 85% Merlot and 15% Cabernet Franc. Frost reduced production by around 15%, while drought further reduced yields in the Franc by a further 10%. As for the wine, well, the 2017 was magnificent on each of the three occasions I tasted it.
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
The 2017 La Conseillante has firmed up in recent months. This bottle was decanted for a couple of hours, and to be frank, I had reckoned on it being more open. More fool me! This is tight and intense on the nose, beautifully defined yet clearly shutting down. The firmness that I alluded to in my previous note is more accentuated, and as such, I would give this several years before broaching.
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
The 2017 La Conseillante suffered a touch of frost on the Cabernet Franc and was bottled 5 and 6 June. It is impressive on the nose with blackberry, boysenberry, truffle and bay leaf aromas. I appreciate the delineation and focus of this Pomerol. The palate is medium-bodied with quite firm, slightly chalky tannins at the moment. It is not a deep nor powerful La Conseillante, but it has plenty of character and charm, reflecting the growing season and the vineyard. It just finishes a little curtly like many 2017 Pomerols, but it should flesh out with bottle age. It's probably bad luck that this is sandwiched between the 2016 and 2018 but hey, you cannot choose the year you were born.
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
The 2017 La Conseillante contains a little less Cabernet Franc than usual because four or five rows were damaged by frost. It has a classic Pomerol bouquet with touches of truffle and incense infusing the broody black fruit that take a few minutes to unwind in the glass. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannin, well balanced with a subtle sprinkling of white pepper and fennel. The Cabernet Franc, despite its diminished contribution, is quite expressive towards the balsamic-tinged finish that shows plenty of energy and decent persistence. It is less powerful than the 2016 at this stage but it is clearly a very well crafted, almost sensual Pomerol by winemaker Marielle Cazaux. Tasted twice with consistent notes, this may well settle at the top of my banded score once in bottle.
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
The 2017 La Conseillante suffered a touch of frost on the Cabernet Franc and was bottled 5 and 6 June. It is impressive on the nose with blackberry, boysenberry, truffle and bay leaf aromas. I appreciate the delineation and focus of this Pomerol. The palate is medium-bodied with quite firm, slightly chalky tannins at the moment. It is not a deep nor powerful La Conseillante, but it has plenty of character and charm, reflecting the growing season and the vineyard. It just finishes a little curtly like many 2017 Pomerols, but it should flesh out with bottle age. It's probably bad luck that this is sandwiched between the 2016 and 2018 but hey, you cannot choose the year you were born.
Reviewed by: James Suckling
Tight and precise with focused tannins and a lovely texture to this young wine. Medium to full body. Compressed and serious. Some salty and dark fruit at the end.
Reviewed by: James Suckling
A young red with sweet fruit and very fine tannins, which have a creamy and almost salty sensation. Medium to full body. Blackberries, dark chocolate and bark. Some black tea, too. It shows an energy and tension. The creamy tannins give polish and beauty. Better after 2023.
About the Producer
Chateau La Conseillante is located in the Pomerol appellation on the right bank of Bordeaux, France, next to Vieux Chateau Certan and Chateau L'Evangile, and is one of the best châteaux in Pomerol. The vineyard covers an area of 11.8 hectares with a topsoil of 60% grey clay and 40% gravel and a subsoil of red clay rich in iron. The vineyard is planted with 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Franc. The Merlot is planted mainly on clay plots, while the Cabernet Franc is planted mainly on gravel. The average age of the vines is 35 years and the planting density is 7,000 vines per hectare. The winery uses traditional vineyard management practices, eliminating the use of herbicides. During the growing season, the land is usually plowed four times to suppress weed growth and thus obtain more water for the vines. In the winter, the vines are pruned in a strict Simple Guyot and Double Guyot style. In addition, the vineyards are de-leafed and de-budded to keep yields at around 4,000 liters per hectare. At harvest time, the grapes are hand-picked to their optimum ripeness and a preliminary selection is carried out. Once the selection is complete, the grapes are transported in small batches to the winery to prevent crushing of the fruit. The winery is located in the heart of the vineyard, which shortens the transportation time and ensures that the grapes are fresh and ready for fermentation. In 2012, the winery added a new fermentation room with enough temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks to ferment the grapes from each of the 18 plots separately, combining traditional winemaking techniques with modern technology. In addition, the winery now has four sorting tables and a de-stemmer. After being transferred to barrels, the grapes undergo a cold maceration of 48 to 96 hours. After maceration, the must is fermented in barrels with the skins for 1 week, followed by a further 1 to 2 weeks of maceration. At the end of fermentation, some of the artesian wine is released first and the remaining lees are pressed through a vertical press. The pressed wines are aged separately, and only some of the best pressed wines are blended with the artesian wines. Before bottling, the wines are matured in oak barrels for approximately 18 months, 50% to 80% of which are new. During maturation, the wines are decanted by the winemakers every three months and finally clarified with egg whites.
1961(1)1973(1)1983(1)1984(1)1988(2)1989(3)1990(2)1993(2)1994(1)1995(2)1997(1)1998(3)1999(1)2000(6)2001(7)2002(1)2003(3)2004(4)2005(10)2006(7)2007(1)2008(8)2009(5)2010(8)2011(6)2012(12)2013(4)2014(7)2015(6)2016(22)
Package Size
1 x 3L12 x 75cl3 x 1.5L
