Wine Advisor
Tertre Roteboeuf 2020
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Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: William Kelley
The 2020 Le Tertre Roteboeuf will delight admirers of Mitjaville's singular style. Unfurling in the glass with aromas of rich dark berries and plums mingled with black truffles, exotic spices, espresso roast, cedar, vine smoke and toasty new oak, it's full-bodied, layered and velvety, with an ample core of ripe, heady fruit framed by sweet, powdery tannins, concluding with a long, sapid finish.
Reviewed by: Lisa Perrotti-Brown
Opaque purple-black in color, the 2020 Le Tertre Roteboeuf needs a little coaxing and patience to lure out captivating notes of wild blueberries, crushed black plums and juicy blackberries, followed by suggestions of red roses, dark chocolate, molten licorice and rich, red soil, with wafts of garrigue and cumin seed. The medium to full-bodied palate delivers decadently intense, exotic spice and mineral-accented black fruit flavors, supported by velvety tannins and seamless freshness, finishing very long and very perfumed. This is without doubt one of the most impactful, singular, nuanced 2020 barrel samples tasted.
Reviewed by: Antonio Galloni
The 2020 Tertre-Rôteboeuf is stunning. It's not quite the 2016, but it comes awfully close. Who knows in time where this will go? A vibrant, explosive Saint-Émilion, the 2020 Tertre-Rôteboeuf sizzles with tension and energy. Black cherry, gravel, spice, espresso and chocolate stain the palate with tremendous intensity and sheer nuance. Tightly wound and full of energy, the 2020 is simply magnificent. What a wine!
Reviewed by: Antonio Galloni
The 2020 Tertre-Rôteboeuf is rich, deep and fabulously expressive, packing so much punch and energy into its midweight yet opulent frame. Black cherry, gravel, menthol, spice, licorice and smoke all build in the glass. Red cherry, red plum, lavender and blood orange lend brightness as the 2020 gains volume. Dazzling.
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
The 2020 Tertre-Rôteboeuf retains its Côte d'Or leanings on the nose: red cherries, kirsch and vanilla pod, with subtle floral aromas surfacing with aeration. Very pure and perhaps less flamboyant than the previous vintage. The palate is medium-bodied with very polished tannins, exquisite balance, and touches of allspice and thyme infusing the red fruit. Not a single hard edge here; it feels long and persistent toward the finish, completing a very seductive Saint-Émilion that will give pleasure over the next 20 years.
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
The 2020 Tertre-Rôteboeuf has exquisite purity on the nose, to the point where I could not decide whether the aromatics resembled a fine Romanée-Saint-Vivant or a Saint-Émilion. Maybe a mixture of the two? There are plush black cherries, cassis and vanilla, and creamy new oak but wonderfully integrated. The palate is medium-bodied with fine-grained tannins. This particular sample, from a half-bottle, did demonstrate quite a bit of wood tannin, especially on the finish, but that will be subsumed by the oak, and as my glass warmed up, it did become more enmeshed. I suspect this Tertre-Rôteboeuf will require more bottle aging than previous vintages.
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
The 2020 Tertre Rôteboeuf has a ton of new oak on the nose that obscures the fruit underneath. However that is frequently the case for this wine, and it just needs a few years to absorb. The palate predictably follows suit, with a veneer of oak coming through at the moment. It's also slightly reduced, with touches of dark chocolate and espresso. Modern in style, it's a very gourmand Saint-Émilion. This must be Tertre-Rôteboeuf. It's sui generis, but it will need time in bottle to show its class. Tasted blind at the annual Southwold tasting.
About the Producer
Tertre Roteboeuf is located in the Saint-Emilion region of Bordeaux, France, and is one of the top local wineries. Chateau Rotbouf owns 5.7 hectares of vineyards, mainly located in the southeast of Saint-Émilion. The soil in the garden is mostly limestone and clay soil. 80% of the vineyard is planted with Merlot and 20% with Cabernet Franc. The average age of the vines is 40 years, with some Cabernet Franc vines approaching 50 years old. The way of cultivating vines in Rotpov Winery is different. The vines are mainly cultivated in a low cultivation method, which is conducive to the formation of a unique microclimate in the vineyard, making the temperature of the vineyard higher than that of other nearby vineyards. These are conducive to the ripening of grapes. Due to the fact that the vineyards are located in cooler climates, Rotpov often delays the picking of the grapes. The picked grapes are screened, pressed, and then fermented in traditional cement vats. The wine obtained from fermentation will undergo malolactic fermentation (Malolactic Fermentation) in wooden barrels. The winery will mature the wine in new French oak barrels for 18 to 24 months. Chateau Rotbouve has reached the standard of classified winery, but the winery insists not to join the classification system. Such a decision did not affect the status of Chateau Rotbouf in Saint-Émilion or even Bordeaux at all, and the price and market demand of the winery of the chateau have always been at the forefront.
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