Chateau Le Tertre-Roteboeuf 2018, 75cl

Wanting to learn about Bordeaux wine making, François Mitjavile started his wine career at another St. Emilion estate, Chateau Figeac . This was back in 1975. Two short years later, he returned to Le Tertre. At that time he decided to change the name of the property. He did this by giving the wine a second name. He added the word Roteboeuf to Le Terte and Le Tertre Roteboeuf was born. The logic behind this was to separate the estate from the numerous Right Bank chateaux already using the word Tertre in their name. His plan was to make the name of the chateau stand out. And it did! The name, Le Tertre Roteboeuf which is loosely translated into "Hill of the belching beef," pays hommage to a time when the property was probably used for cattle to graze.

The first vintage of Le Tertre Roteboeuf produced by François Mitjavile was the 1978. While the estate is not what you would call modern, some of the first changes made by Francois Mitjavile was to begin the practice of using a portion of new, French oak to age the wine. Prior to François Mitjavile taking over Tertre Roteboeuf, the wines were never aged in new oak barrels. That changed starting with the 1985 vintage when the wines were aged in 50% new, French oak barrels for the first time. In a few years, the wine of Tertre Roteboeuf would be aged in 100% new, French oak barrels, a practice they continue using today. Next, François Mitjavile began harvesting later, picking riper fruit and reducing the yields. François Mitjavile soon began moving to using organic, sustainable, vineyard farming techniques. It took only a few years until Tertre Roteboeuf became known as one of the top wines of the St. Emilion appellation. The turnaround began with the 1989 vintage. Since 1989, Tertre Roteboeuf has maintained their status as one of the best wines from Saint Emilion. (The Wine Cellar Inside, March 2017)

"The 2018 Tertre Roteboeuf is another powerful, opulent wine from this estate that reminds me a little of the 2005 with its density and tannic structure. Cassis, graphite, black raspberries, and tons of classy oak all emerge from this full-bodied beauty that has tons of fruit and texture, a stacked mid-palate, and a big finish. It's a massive, sumptuous, and lavishly oaked and fruited wine that's going to benefit from 3-5 years of bottle age and keep for 25-30 years.
97 - 99 points."
( Jeb Dunnuck, JebDunnuck.com, May 2019)

"It is always a joy to taste at Tertre Roteboeuf and, sadly, I was rather rushed this year so I didn't manage to spend much time with the Mitjavilles as I would have liked. Nevertheless, as far as level of enjoyment per minute spent on site, this was, by far, the most successful visit of the week. Tertre Roteboeuf is always an opulent and flamboyant wine and the 2018 vintage is no exception. In spite of the seismic levels of alcohol this wine is super-smooth, and as Louis Mitjaville put it, 'digest'. This one word sums up the elemental beauty of Tertre Roteboeuf in that it tastes cosmically beautiful but it is also a joy to drink and savour. In spite of the massive intensity and kaleidoscopic fruit this is an insanely pretty and velvety smooth wine. Heroic in all departments, I have no idea when it will start drinking let alone when it will finally run out of energy. I expect that it will perform miracles on your palate on any given date in the next half century and I guarantee that you will be amazed when you have tasted what I have had the immense pleasure of tasting today.
19+ / 20 points."
( Matthew Jukes, MatthewJukes.com, April 2019)