2021 Château Clos de Sarpe

I continue to absolutely love what this château does, and the wines have never been better. The 2021 Château Clos De Sarpe comes from a single 3.7-hectare vineyard on the eastern portion of the appellation and is 85% Merlot and 15% Cabernet Franc from tiny yields of 25 hectoliters per hectare, with a long 42-day maceration followed by aging in 70% new barrels. Sensational notes of pure crème de cassis and black raspberry fruit, crushed stone, spring flowers, and graphite, as well as a chalky, crushed stone-like minerality, all emerge from the glass, and this beauty hits the palate with medium to full-bodied richness, a deep, layered mid-palate, fine tannins, and nicely integrated background oak. It hit 14.5% alcohol and brings more depth, richness, and texture than most in the vintage. I would be thrilled to have bottles in the cellar, and it will ideally be given 4-6 years of bottle age and will evolve gracefully over the following two decades. Hats off to Jean-Guy Beyney and his niece Maylis Marcenat for another brilliant wine. This château deserves more attention in the market today, as they're producing some of the greatest wines from the Right Bank.

The 2021 Clos de Sarpe has turned out very nicely in bottle, offering up aromas of dark berries, spices, sweet soil tones and bay leaf, followed by a medium to full-bodied, layered and seamless palate with good depth of fruit, racy acids and impressively suave, polished tannins. By the standards of this site, the 2021 will be unusually approachable out of the gates.

Creamy vanilla, strawberry and black cherry notes on the nose with hints of toast and black chocolate. Bright and high toned, juicy with a kick of high acidity that lifts the palate and gives a tingling sensation rather than being overly mouthwatering as the tannin structure is relatively full for the vintage giving a wide frame. The fruit is certainly more plush than some of the wines, and the 14.5% alcohol just makes an appearance towards the end with a flash of heat, cinnamon and clove spice, but this keeps focus and direction too. Still needs a bit more time to harmonise the fresh, lean acidity with the tannins and fruit but this will be an enjoyable, if atypical bottle.