Wine Advisor
La Violette 2019
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Description
Violette, Pomerol, Bordeaux, France, Still, Red, 2013
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Lisa Perrotti-Brown
Very deep purple-black colored, the 2019 La Violette flaunts a stunning nose of Black Forest cake, red roses, blueberry preserves and prunes with hints of black tea, cinnamon toast, Sichuan pepper and forest floor. Medium to full-bodied, the palate is beautifully poised with firm, ripe tannins and lovely freshness supporting the fragrant black fruit layers, finishing long and spicy.
Reviewed by: William Kelley
From a site with soils richer in clay that's planted with more Merlot, the 2019 La Violette is even more powerful than its stablemate Le Gay. Offering up aromas of plum preserve, strawberry liqueur, loamy soil, burning embers, spices and dark chocolate, it's full-bodied, thick and textural, with a rich, muscular profile and a broad, heady finish. This is a ripe, powerful wine that privileges impact over finesse, but it will give plenty of pleasure for admirers of the style.
Reviewed by: Antonio Galloni
The 2019 La Violette is gorgeous. Rich and flamboyant to the core, the 2019 is one of the most extroverted wines of the year, but all the elements are nicely put together. Inky black fruit, chocolate, mocha, spice and espresso abound.
Reviewed by: Antonio Galloni
The 2019 La Violette is a rich, dense wine. Inky dark fruit, chocolate, sweet spice and new leather all flesh out in the glass. La Violette is heady and exotic to the core, showing tremendous depth and concentration. This is a decidedly extracted style, with plenty of oak influence.
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
The 2019 La Violette has a well-defined nose with black fruit, pencil box, truffle and incense aromas, tight at first but blossoming with aeration. The palate is medium-bodied with plusher tannins than the Le Gay. Well defined with a keen thread of acidity, this is concentrated on the finish with a long black pepper infused aftertaste. Backward in style, but it will reward patience. Tasted blind at the Southwold annual tasting.
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
The 2019 La Violette offers typical ravishing scents of blueberry, crème de cassis and violet (of course), modern yet irresistible and well-defined, and better than in previous years. The palate is medium-bodied, fleshy yet balanced, with supple tannins, copious, lightly spiced red fruit and a pure, concentrated finish. A delicious Pomerol that offers hedonic pleasure.
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
The 2019 La Violette bursts out of the blocks with a smorgasbord of lush black cherry and blueberry fruit swathed in new oak, well defined and focused with incense and Clementine scents emerging with aeration. The palate is bright and fresh on the entry. The new oak here is nearly folded into the mostly black fruit laced with graphite (you might be duped into thinking there is a dash of Cabernet Sauvignon in the blend!) Long in the mouth, this is a less flashy and more classically styled La Violette that should give 30 years of pleasure. Excellent.
About the Producer
Although Chateau La Violette dates back to the late 1800’s when it began to earn a reputation for its wines. In those formative years, the property was owned by a cooper, who made wine barrels for other estates, Ulysse Belivier. It is only quite recent that Chateau La Violette has produced some of the best wines in all of Pomerol. Purchased in 2005 from Frederic Dumas, Chateau La Violette made its debut for the new owner, Catherine Pere-Verge with the 2006 vintage. The small 1.8-hectare vineyard of La Violette is now fully planted to 100% Merlot. At one point in time, there were also Cabernet Franc vines planted, but those vines have been removed and replaced with Merlot. The vineyard has some very old Merlot vines that are close to 75 years of age. The tiny production makes this one of the harder wines to find in Pomerol! The terroir at La Violette is a complex mix of clay and limestone with gravel and iron deposits that run deep into the soil. The vineyard consists of 4 plots in two main parcels. Those 4 main plots are further divided into 20 smaller parcels. The best terroir is placed between Le Pin and Trotanoy. Those vines are the heart and soul of La Violette. The second parcel, which is close to Feytit Clinet is not on the plateau and thus, those vines are placed in Chateau Montviel, one of their other estates. The vines are planted to a density of 5,500 vines per hectare for the old vines. The young vines are planted at a much higher density of 7,700 vines per hectare. At Chateau La Violette, vineyard management requires three days a week be spent manicuring each individual bunch, removing any green or pink berries from around the “wings” to ensure a perfectly uniform ripening of the grapes. At its best, Chateau La Violette is filled with countless layers of dense, rich, opulent dark berry, floral and chocolate tones. The palate enjoys a bath of pure velvet and satin. This is a very sensuous style of Pomerol that marries opulence with the concentration and purity of fruit. One of the key characteristics of this Bordeaux wine is the haunting smell of violets.
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