2020 Tour de Bessan
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Tasting notes
Attractive plum colour, an enticing nose with black cherry, damson and a kiss of oak. The palate opens with chocolate drops and cassis puree, silky tannins, well balanced. This is a wine that I find sometimes inconsistent between vintages, but it's a great quality 2020 with some appellation signature, good expansion through the mid palate, a little tight on the finish but in the way that makes you feel this is young and will soften further over ageing. Vignobles Marie-Laure Lurton, Eric Boissenot consultant.
Critic scores
Average Score
Alistair Cooper MW, jancisrobinson.com
Neal Martin
More reviews and scores
The 2020 La Tour de Bessan takes a while to unfurl on the nose: blackberry and bilberry fruit, and hints of licorice. A faint balsamic note emerges with time. Fine definition. The palate is medium-bodied with powdery tannins, quite Pauillac-like in terms of structure, sapid with a touch of volatility on the finish. There is a bit of heat here. I'd like to revisit this in a couple of years.
The 2020 La Tour de Bessan is very, very good. A blast of dark cherry fruit, smoke, licorice, blackberry and espresso races across the palate. The 2020 is dark and brooding, yet retains a mid-weight sense of structure. There is certainly plenty to like.