WTN: Monbousquet

[David M. Bueker]

• 1999 Château Monbousquet - France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru (6/16/2025)
  From my late father’s cellar, this is definitely modernist right-bank Bordeaux, but it’s not objectively bad wine, just a style that divides. At 26 years of age there’s still a lot of fruit, and just the barest hint of those things I prize in older Bordeaux. Hints of dried tobacco and cedar are there on the edges, but the core remains plummy fruit. Not a lot of tannin left, so it’s not clear to me what will keep this wine together with further aging, but it’s enjoyable now if you can tolerate Bordeaux that pushes the envelope.

[Jenise]

I loved Monbousquet in the 80's, and less so by '96, a goopy vintage and the last one I owned, purchased before realizing the management and style change. As you say, a style that divides.

[David M. Bueker]

For free it was a pretty good wine.

I like the 2005 Monbousquet - it has been quite reliable but needs to be opened a couple of hours or more before drinking.