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Tasting notes
Saint-Emilion did well in the vintage, and the 100% Merlot 2021 Saintayme (which comes from slightly more gravelly, clay soils near Saint-Etienne-de-Lisse) reveals a medium ruby hue as well as solid aromatics of ripe red and black cherries, cedary, green, minty herbs, truffle, and spice. It's a medium-bodied, transparent, elegant, juicy, up-front, and charming effort to enjoy over the coming 7-8 years or so. There's a solid green edge here, and this is another 2021 that will be loved by the staunch traditionalists out there.
Critic scores
Average Score
James Lawther MW, jancisrobinson.com
Neal Martin
More reviews and scores
The 2021 Saintayme has a tightly wound bouquet with blackberry, raspberry and light graphite aromas. The palate is medium-bodied with a briny entry, quite tannic in style, and it has dispensed with the plushness I found out of barrel. It’s not bad, but there is a slight hardness here that will require time to soften.
The 2021 Saintayme is a very pretty, supple wine to drink now and over the next decade. It offers lovely freshness and verve to match its mid-weight personality. Crushed flowers, mint, dried herbs and red berry fruit are some of the notes that grace this vibrant, mid-weight Saint-Émilion. Saintayme can often show a slightly vegetal note, but that is not the case with the 2021, which is pretty remarkable for the year. This was aged 20-25% in tank.
Youthfully reserved, the 2021 Saintayme, a 100% Merlot, evokes aromas of dark berries and spices with some green notes. Moderately weighted and round on the palate, the wine is firm and tannic on the finish. The maturation process seems to have made the wine stricter and more tannic than during the en primeur tasting session.