CH ORMES DE PEZ ST ESTEPHE 2020

CH ORMES DE PEZ ST ESTEPHE 2020Saint Estphe is Cabernet Sauvignon country except here. The 2020 Ormes de Pez flips the typical Left Bank script with a Merlot dominant blend of 54% Merlot, 38% Cabernet Sauvignon, 4% Cabernet Franc, and 4% Petit Verdot, the result of a deliberate vineyard restructuring to match grapes to soil. Owned by the Cazes family of Lynch Bages, the estate's 35 hectare vineyard sits on clay gravel soils in the northern commune of Saint Estphe clay content heavy

Saint-Estèphe is Cabernet Sauvignon country — except here. The 2020 Ormes de Pez flips the typical Left Bank script with a Merlot-dominant blend of 54% Merlot, 38% Cabernet Sauvignon, 4% Cabernet Franc, and 4% Petit Verdot, the result of a deliberate vineyard restructuring to match grapes to soil. Owned by the Cazes family of Lynch-Bages, the estate's 35-hectare vineyard sits on clay-gravel soils in the northern commune of Saint-Estèphe — clay content heavy enough that Merlot came through the 2020 drought far better than Cabernet did. Aged 16 months in French oak barriques at 45% new, it opens with blackcurrant, blueberry, and dark cherry, gains tobacco and graphite in the mid-palate, and finishes with gunsmoke and saline grip.