2023 Mangot

The 2023 Mangot is silky, plush and beautifully done. Ripe tannins wrap around a core of dark red/purplish fruit, lavender, blood orange, kirsch and a kiss of French oak. This is an extroverted style, but it works quite well.

Unfortunately, the sample of Mangot at the first organised tasting had been wrongly picked at the château ... not that any of the other tasters noticed. So if you see other reviews noting similarity to the 2022, then you know that's because it was the 2022. (Incidentally, the same thing happened at two different tastings.) At the second, a quick call was made to the château, and a 2023 materialised! It has a lovely bouquet with black plum and raspberry coulis scents, the oak neatly integrated, more discrete and classical than the 2022. The palate is medium-bodied with pliant tannins. Good density and weight, black rather than red fruit laced with white pepper on the relatively bold finish. Give this a couple of years in bottle.

The deep purple-hued 2023 Château Mangot is solid, offering medium to full-bodied aromas and flavors of darker, almost blue fruits as well as fresh herbs and sappy flowers. I've struggled with the wines from Mangot over the past few vintages, as I find a distinct, vegetal, celery character that develops in bottle. Whether this is related to something in the winemaking, pick dates, or just something I’m personally sensitive to (I know others think highly of these wines), I truthfully don’t know. Nevertheless, this certainly shows well at this stage. The blend is 65% Merlot, 30% Cabernet Franc, and 5% Cabernet Franc.