CLOS DE SARPE [ST. EMILION] 2020 750ML

I always love the wines from this tiny estate, which is located on the upper plateau of Saint-Emilion, and their 2020 Château Clos De Sarpe is another brilliant wine. Deep purple-hued, with a powerful bouquet of ripe cassis and black cherry fruits as well as camphor, graphite, and liquid violets, it's flawlessly balanced, has remarkable purity of fruit, building tannins, and well-integrated oak. This wine can age beautifully, and this 2020 will still be drinking brilliantly in 20, 30, if not 40 years. Bravo. Tasted multiple times, and I rated it as high as 98 on one occasion.

The 2020 Clos du Sarpe is an exotic beauty. Blackberry jam, graphite, menthol, licorice, crushed rocks, incense and white truffle give Clos du Sarpe its exotic profile. The aromatics alone are mesmerizing, but everything about the 2020 is so alluring. The 2020 needs time to soften, but it is compelling.

Blackberries, cassis, dried herbs and smoked paprika on the nose. It’s full-bodied with firm, velvety tannins. Focused and balanced, with a long, silky and seamless finish. Polished and classy. From organically grown grapes.

A decade ago, a vintage like this would have produced a monster at this address, which is naturally blessed with old vines and low yields, but vinification at low temperature, without any saignée, has delivered a remarkably elegant, suave 2020 Clos de Sarpe. Offering up aromas of dark berries, cherries, plums and sweet spices, it's medium to full-bodied, layered and fleshy, its deep core of fruit framed by sweet, powdery tannins. Sadly, there are only 8,000 bottles of this lovely Saint-Émilion.