2020 Château Hosanna
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Tasting notes
As Edouard Moueix noted, this is “a little more serious than usual” – structured and precise, this is a really impressive Hosanna. The Cabernet Franc (25% of the blend, the rest Merlot) leaps out on the nose – adding a vibrant and refreshing herbaceous edge, with much more crunchy blackcurrant style fruit in contrast to the other Moueix wines in the line-up. There’s a serious graphite note that gives the wine great precision. On the palate, this is super ripe, with very slightly warming alcohol, the fruit plush and mouth-filling, but framed by a firm grip of tannins. The finish is full of rich, dark fruit with a fresh redcurrant bite and something that is almost blue raspberry, with sweet cocoa and chai spice from the 50% new oak.
Critic scores
James Suckling
James Lawther MW, jancisrobinson.com
More reviews and scores
Tasted blind. Deeply coloured with more developed rim. Leafy fragrance. Really scented, mostly in the herbal spectrum. Fresh, lively and finely textured, if compact, tannins. Very firm on the finish (JH)
The 2020 Hosanna is rich and sun-kissed in style, offering up aromas of berry liqueur, figs, licorice, aniseed and vine smoke, followed by a full-bodied, ripe and gourmand palate with a generous core of confit fruit, polished tannins and a suave, enveloping profile. This ripe, unctuous red wouldn't be out of place in a tasting of contemporary Napa Valley Cabernets.
A big, explosive beast of a wine, the 2020 Château Hosanna comes from a small 11-acre vineyard of gravelly, clay soils and it's 70% Merlot and 30% Cabernet Franc. Decadent red and black fruits, smoked tobacco, loamy earth, chocolate, and some meaty, iron-like nuances all emerge on the nose, and this round, full-bodied, expansive Pomerol has a great mid-palate, ripe tannins, and a blockbuster of a finish. It's one of the more opulent, overtly sexy wines of the vintage, and this beauty is going to offer incredible pleasure over the coming 25-30 years.
About the producer
Château Hosanna is a relatively young wine label in Pomerol, but one with some of the richest heritage in the entire region. It couldn’t be better situated with Château Lafleur to the north, Vieux Château Certan to the south and flanked on either side by Pétrus and Château Lafleur-Pétrus.