Chateau Montrose 2016

The pink hill

Before there were vines here, the ridge where Chateau Montrose now stands was covered in heather. In bloom it turned the hillside pink, and sailors moving wine down the Gironde on flat-bottomed barges called the place 'Mont Rose.' When Etienne Theodore Dumoulin founded the estate in 1815, he kept the name.

Just forty years later, in 1855, Montrose was ranked a second growth in the Bordeaux classification, the youngest estate to reach that rank. The estate rests on two of the gravel terraces the river laid down across the Medoc, which it calls Terraces No. 03 and No. 04: clay, gravel and sand deposited by the Gironde over time. Terrace No. 04, sandy gravel on a clay-rich base with an iron layer, is the one the estate calls the original land of its Cabernet Sauvignon.

The estate covers 130 hectares, with 95 under vine in a single block divided into 115 plots. The vineyard as a whole is planted to 63 percent Cabernet Sauvignon, 31 percent Merlot, 4 percent Cabernet Franc and 2 percent Petit Verdot, and the property makes about 400,000 bottles a year across its wines, which include the second wine La Dame de Montrose and a third, Tertio de Montrose.

Four families and a windmill

In 1866 the estate passed to Mathieu Dollfus, an Alsatian who modernized it and built a village for its workers. His windmill, now a symbol of the estate, was used to flood the vineyard with groundwater and fight phylloxera.

The Charmolue family bought Montrose in 1896 and kept it for three generations, more than a century; Jean-Louis Charmolue ran it from 1960 until 2006, when the family sold to the brothers Martin and Olivier Bouygues. The new owners began a seven-year renovation centered on energy self-sufficiency and a smaller carbon footprint.

Jean-Bernard Delmas, formerly of Chateau Haut-Brion, ran the estate for the Bouygues until 2011. He was followed by Herve Berland, who came from Chateau Mouton Rothschild and led Montrose until 2022, so the 2016 was made on his watch. In 2022 Pierre Graffeuille became chief executive. The estate has farmed organically since 2019.

2016: a wet spring, a scorching summer

The estate's technical sheet sums up 2016 in four lines: a mild winter with moderate rain, a rainy spring with some hail at the end of June, a very hot summer with above-average temperatures, and a warm, dry autumn. Picking ran from about September 22 or 23 to mid-October, between October 14 and 17 depending on the account.

The grand vin is 68 percent Cabernet Sauvignon, 25 percent Merlot and 7 percent Cabernet Franc, drawn essentially from Terrace No. 04. It was vinified plot by plot with what the estate calls gentle, tailor-made extractions and nine separate press fractions, then aged 18 months in French oak, 60 percent of it new. Only about 36 to 37 percent of the crop made the cut. Published figures put the alcohol at 13.2 to 13.5 percent, depending on the source.

The estate's own note describes a very dark, deep wine with ripe fruit, toast and spice, an opulent attack, silky, precise tannins and 'an incredibly long finish,' and calls it 'an exceptional Montrose, powerful, classy and elegant.'

Three perfect scores

Critics were impressed from the barrel. In April 2017 Neal Martin called it 'disarmingly and hauntingly beautiful,' and Jane Anson found more waves of freshness than in the 2015. Jeb Dunnuck suggested it might be the wine of the vintage.

In bottle the scores climbed. Dunnuck gave it 100 points in March 2019, calling it a monument in the making that would need upwards of a decade in the cellar. Jane Anson gave 100 in 2021 and again in 2022, calling it 'one of the greatest Montrose of the new millennium,' and Lisa Perrotti-Brown scored it 100 in September 2023 after earlier marks of 99. William Kelley gave 99+ in December 2023, calling it 'the purist's choice.'

Not everyone went that high. James Suckling scored it 98, Jancis Robinson 18.5 out of 20, and Neal Martin 97 on a 2026 retasting, praising a class so complete 'you almost do not notice the depth and precision.' One merchant suggests it should be drunk from 2030 and kept 40 to 50 years.

The bottle today

In October 2026 a New York merchant listed a single 750 ml bottle at $285.01, an asking price, not a sale. The same merchant offered case quantities at lower per-bottle prices for later delivery.

Montrose had earned perfect scores before: Robert Parker gave 100 points to its 1990, 2009 and 2010. And long before that, its 1970 placed third among ten California and French reds at the 1976 Paris tasting that pitted California wines against French ones.

The numbers

Estate

130 ha, 95 ha under vine, 115 plots

Vineyard planting

63% Cabernet Sauvignon, 31% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc, 2% Petit Verdot

2016 blend

68% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot, 7% Cabernet Franc

Grand vin share

About 36-37% of production

Oak

18 months, 60% new French oak

Estate output

About 400,000 bottles a year, all wines

Jeb Dunnuck

100 (2019)

Jane Anson

100 (2021, 2022)

Lisa Perrotti-Brown

100 (2023)

William Kelley

99+ (2023)

Timeline

1. 1815

   Etienne Theodore Dumoulin founds Montrose on a heather-covered ridge in Saint-Estephe.

2. 1855

   Montrose is ranked a second growth, the youngest estate of that rank.

3. 1866

   Mathieu Dollfus takes over, modernizes the estate and builds a workers' village.

4. 1896

   The Charmolue family buys Montrose and keeps it for three generations.

5. 1976

   Montrose 1970 places third among ten reds at the Paris tasting.

6. 2006

   Martin and Olivier Bouygues buy the estate and begin a seven-year renovation.

7. 2011

   Herve Berland, from Mouton Rothschild, succeeds Jean-Bernard Delmas.

8. Sep 22, 2016

   Harvest of the 2016 begins, running into mid-October.

9. Apr 2017

   Critics taste the 2016 from barrel during the en primeur tastings.

10. Mar 2019

    Jeb Dunnuck scores the bottled 2016 100 points.

11. 2019

    The estate begins organic farming.

12. 2022

    Pierre Graffeuille becomes chief executive.

13. Oct 2022

    Jane Anson calls it one of the greatest Montrose of the new millennium, at 100 points.

14. Sep 2023

    Lisa Perrotti-Brown scores the 2016 100 points.

15. Oct 2026

    A New York merchant lists a bottle at $285.01.

The world in 2016

• Mar 22, 2016

  Suicide bombings at Brussels airport and a metro station kill 35 people.

• Jun 23, 2016

  The United Kingdom votes to leave the European Union.

• Jul 14, 2016

  A truck attack in Nice, France, kills 86 people.

• Aug 5, 2016

  The Summer Olympics open in Rio de Janeiro.

• Nov 2, 2016

  The Chicago Cubs win the World Series for the first time since 1908.

• Nov 8, 2016

  Donald Trump is elected the 45th president of the United States.

Price record

This is an asking price, not a sale. It is what a seller wanted on the date shown. Asking prices often sit above what buyers pay, but an ask is not a ceiling: a sale can land on either side of it. It is not a value.

By reference price, Chateau Montrose 2016 is number 88 of 100 in the wine entries of the FLOAT 100. 12 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (69 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• Montrose is named for the pink heather that once covered its hill, as seen by sailors on the Gironde.
• Montrose was only forty years old when it was ranked a second growth in 1855.
• A 19th-century owner used a windmill to flood the vineyard with groundwater to fight phylloxera.
• Only about 37 percent of the 2016 crop went into the grand vin.
• The 2016 was pressed into nine separate press fractions before blending.
• Montrose 1970 was one of the French reds at the famous 1976 Paris tasting, finishing third.