2021 Petrus

An elegant, civilized expression of this terroir, the 2021 Château Petrus is, as always, 100% Merlot and it's medium to full-bodied, with an almost bloody edge to its ripe red and black fruits as well as notes of tobacco, sappy flowers, and iron. With beautiful mid-palate depth, fine tannins, and a layered, elegant mouthfeel that has solid underlying structure, it's going to be ready to go with just 4-6 years of bottle age and evolve gracefully over the following two decades.

The 2021 Petrus, which was bottled last June, as usual takes a few swirls of the glass to really settle into its groove. Olivier Berrouet said that he did not try to push this wine, decreasing the percentage of new oak and shortening the time in barrel by a couple of months. It eventually offers scents of black cherries, bilberry, light incense and hints of lavender that come through with aeration, all with very fine definition. The palate is medium-bodied with fine-grained tannins, very well-balanced, fresh and more saline than recent vintages. Silky-smooth toward the finish, this is a classically styled Petrusthat has a glorious future ahead. 13.2% alcohol.

The 2021 Petrus is delicate, pretty and understated, just as it was en primeur. Crushed red berry fruit, mint, lavender and rose petal are all finely knit in a Petrus that is built more on delicacy than power. Silky tannins and mid-weight structure add to an impression of understated finesse. The 2021 is a beautifully elegant Pomerol of total seduction. In this vintage, Petrus was done with 5-10% less oak than the norm, while time in barrel was shortened by 2-3 months.