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Tasting notes
The 2019 Le Gay has quite a Left Bank nose thanks to the potent graphite/pencil box scents that infuse the red fruit. The palate is medium-bodied with pliant tannins, black cherries and wild strawberry fruit, elegant with ample weight on the finish. This is a lovely Pomerol with great promise. Tasted blind at the Southwold annual tasting.
Critic scores
Average Score
James Suckling
Decanter
More reviews and scores
Tasted blind. Mid blackish garnet. Animal, gamey nose. Dense and rich and ambitious. Luscious texture. (JR)
The 2019 Château Le Gay is a spicy, already complex, yet structured Pomerol that has some up-front appeal, yet will unquestionably benefit from bottle age. Its deep ruby/purple color is followed by a medium to full-bodied, ripe, nicely textured Pomerol that has abundant spiced red and black fruits, notes of dried herbs, loamy earth, and spicy oak, ripe, velvety tannins, and plenty of length on the finish. Give bottles 4-5 years and enjoy over the following two decades. It should merit that higher barrel score at maturity.
The 2019 Le Gay is rich and powerful, offering up aromas of cherries, berry fruit liqueur, kirsch and dark chocolate, framed by a lavish application of creamy new oak. Full-bodied, broad and layered, it's a ripe, heady wine with low acidity and plenty of powdery tannin, showing a touch of alcoholic heat on the finish. From a site that naturally delivers early and elevated maturity, with heat-retentive gravel over clay soils, it's all fermented in barrel to permit extreme selection, picking small lots within parcels in pursuit of optimal maturity. There's no doubting the quality of the site or the attention to detail in the cellar, but to my palate, this flirts with over-ripeness; my score gives it the benefit of the doubt.
About the producer
There’s been lots of change at Ch. le Gay since the Parent family arrived in 2002 – with vineyards replanted, the cellars renovated and the winemaking adjusted. No surprise, perhaps, that quality is now higher than ever.