Montus, Xl, Madiran

This is phenomenal. After 30 years the wine is in GREAT shape (cork is almost perfect). As usual with the high quality cuvées from Montus, this is super aromatic and potent. If I remember well what Alain Brumont told me 26 years ago...this is made with the best parcels of Montus and then aged 40 months in oak (this is where the XL comes from). This is a bold wine, but still quite easy to drink at (apparently) 12.5%. You …

Outstanding, Didn’t Remember when lAdd a wine so incredibly perfect? One of my high Mark in the last three or four years! Bizarre with all the nice win that a drink….no reason to wait longer to good! But you can wait a few years still

WOW, what a powerhouse!! 200% new oak, 24 months on new oak, then poured into new oak again for another 24 month oak fest. Super intense and dense nose with hay, grass, tar, asphalt, cigarette ashes, ink, leather and tobacco. Huge tannins dries out the palate completely. Dark and inky mouthfeel with forest floor and moss. The very definition of a potent wine!! Exclusive and great craftsmanship, not a crack in the armor! 96-97p in terms of quality, but for …

Still lots of fruit and tannins. Californian Cab like.

Well all right then. I've had a handful of these over the past few years, some good, some dried out. This, my last bottle, is leagues beyond my previous experiences, verging on OMFG territory. Still so young seeming, this brute is a collision between an ultra dense core of powerful black fruits, an astounding level of mint/pine/cedar/cardamom tones, and a fortress of silky tannins. The nose keeps expanding with air to reveal ever more layers of herbal complexity. There's so …

Powerful, Bordeaux like, but slightly one dimensional.

Sexy meaty spicy cedars. Still a baby at 20 years old. This is probably a 40 year wine. $130 ohio retail.

This excellent nose! With a milk touch, big, mouth filling, warm touch, nice animalic, still a lot of tanin, great! Wait!

An "experiment" by Alain Brumont in pursuit of grand-vin glory - a 100% Tannat Madiran aged in new oak barriques for 40 months, hence "XL". It's pretty damn good, though still too young to fully appreciate. Tight and very funky on opening, with air it shows classic cedary red fruits with a delightful savory aspect and lifted and spicy aromatics, but there are a lot of drying tannins that have yet to resolve. Given that an '89 Montus Cuvée Prestige …

Tasted at The Sampler: still dominated by tannin (100% tannat after all); have some doubts whether the surprisingly moderate fruit will last long enough to see it soften enough...

Very dark opaque color that looks as black as red. Some shoe leather, vanilla and pleasing grilled mushroom bouquet as it develops. Very tannic with lots of dry tannins in the aftertaste. 100% Tannat grapes. As the evening passed I saved this one to finish last and it was still not ready 4 hours after first taste (remember it had been decanted 6 or 7 hours before that!). This wine is just a baby and needs to grow up and …