Wine Advisor
Rouget 2020
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Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: William Kelley
The 2020 Rouget is another rich, demonstrative wine from this estate situated on the edge of the Pomerol plateau. Offering up aromas of blackberries, cherries and baking chocolate framed by a lavish application of creamy new oak, it's medium to full-bodied, broad and enveloping, with a ripe core of fruit, powdery tannins and an expansive, vanillin-inflected finish. With a lighter touch in élevage and efforts to pursue more vibrant flavors, it's clear that this estate could easily score even higher.
Reviewed by: Lisa Perrotti-Brown
The 2020 Rouget has a deep purple-black color and pronounced notes of spiced blackberries, black cherry preserves and prunes, plus hints of cedar chest, Indian spices and tilled soil. The full-bodied palate is concentrated with slightly drying tannins and a lot of oak influence at this stage, finishing a little coarse. It could well come through this as just an "ugly-duck" stage, but I've scored it conservatively.
Reviewed by: Antonio Galloni
The 2020 Rouget is a potent, opulent Pomerol. Espresso, bittersweet chocolate, licorice, leather, incense, tobacco and blackberry jam race across the palate. This sumptuous, unabashedly opulent Pomerol has a ton to offer, but it is very much on the large side.
Reviewed by: Antonio Galloni
The 2020 Rouget is laced with lavish, inky fruit, cedar, tobacco, menthol, licorice, cedar and tobacco. Rich, sumptuous and alluring, Rouget is all about immediacy. Plush and silky, with soft contours and exceptional balance, Rouget delivers the goods, and then some. The forward, lush style is hugely appealing.
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
The 2020 Rouget is tasted from a half-bottle that showed some oxidation, so I called for a second. I'm glad I did because it tallies far more to the barrel sample. Clearly showing signs of an earlier-picked, fresher style, this offers very attractive blackberry and cedar aromas, just a faint savory note in the background. The palate is medium-bodied with sappy black fruit, fine acidity, just a little bitterness to address on the finish, but with fine length. Give it 4-5 years in bottle.
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
The 2020 Rouget was tasted from two half-bottles. Deep in color, it has an intense bouquet of black currant, tobacco and truffle shavings and an increasingly pronounced undergrowth scent. Compared to recent vintages that I have found a bit trop, this is much more focused and controlled. The palate is medium-bodied with quite firm tannins and well-judged acidity, touches of dark chocolate infusing the black fruit. This is well balanced and fresh and though there is some new oak to be assimilated toward the finish, this is very promising Rouget that deserves 4–6 years in bottle.
About the Producer
Chateau Rouget, located in the Pomerol region of Bordeaux, France, is one of the oldest star wineries in the region. The history of Redfish Winery dates back to the 18th century. At that time, Redfish was owned by the Bayonne family and continued to grow under the management of the Bayonne family. By the 19th century, the winery was known as one of the five most outstanding wineries in the Pomerol region. In 1892, the Dupuy family acquired Redfish, which was subsequently acquired by Marcel Bertrand. After several twists and turns, the development of Red Fish Winery has also experienced slippage and stagnation. By 1992, the direct descendants of Marcel Bertrand had sold Redfish to the Labruyere family, a famous Burgundy winemaking family that also owned The famous Domaine Jacques Prieur. After the Labouille family took over the Redfish family, they spent a lot of energy to improve and renovate the Redfish winery, dedicated to restoring the winery to its former glory and building it into a wine leader on the right bank of Bordeaux. Redfish's vineyards are located in the northern part of the Pomerol appellation, near Chateau L'Eglise Clinet and Chateau La Croix de Gay. After the expansion of the Labouille family, Redfish now has a total of 18 hectares of vineyards and is one of the largest wineries in the Pomerol region. Redfish's vineyards are planted with 85% Merlot and 15% Cabernet Franc, with approximately 6,000 vines per hectare with an average age of 28 years. The soils in the vineyards of Redfish are dominated by gravel and loam, which are rich in iron and are very suitable for the growth of these grape varieties. After taking over Redfish Winery, the Labuille family not only expanded the area of the winery’s vineyards, but also equipped the winery with a series of modern winemaking equipment and established a modern wine cellar; at the same time, Redfish Winery also In 1997, the famous wine master Michel Rolland was hired as the winemaking consultant of the winery, which made Redfish Winery even more powerful and its winemaking ability was greatly improved. In the production of wine, Redfish Winery uses large wooden barrels of 5,000-6,000 liters and temperature-controlled stainless steel barrels. The wine undergoes malolactic fermentation in oak barrels, after which the fermented wine is aged in 50% new French oak barrels for 15-18 months. Currently, Château de la Rouge produces about 6,500 cases of wine per year, mainly including the original Red Fish dry red series and the second red fish dry red series (Vieux Chateau des Templiers, which was sold as Le Clocher de Rouget). These wines are rich in fruit aroma, rich in taste, delicate and silky tannins, and have good cellaring ability.
