Caymus Special Selection is always a hugely popular wine, and it sold out in record time. We’re working on getting more, but for now, you’ll have to settle for a 100 point St.-Émilion.

“A mere paragraph is hardly enough to do justice to this estate and the man behind it, but it will have to suffice for now to say that the 2019 vintage at this address will delight admirers of Mitjavile’s wines.” – Wine Advocate

Here’s a clear case for putting Tertre atop the Right Bank pyramid. If you consider the price, there’s really NOTHING that competes. Ausone? Pavie? Cheval Blanc? All going to run upwards of $500-$1000 for a great vintage.

And while everyone else pays closer to $300 for this bottle, it’s yours today, for a brief “mirage in the desert” type moment at under $200.

As always, it comes stacked with lavish praise and huge scores (100 from Tasting Book, 97WA, 95-97JD, and 96V) and equally enticing hype from the masses - “long, expansive, mouth-filling”, “succulent and delicious” - there’s not much to say about this epic vintage that hasn’t been said, so we’ll keep it brief.

Château Le Tertre Rôteboeuf is a top St. Emilion Grand Cru owned by Francois Mitjavile who also owns Château Roc de Cambes in the Côtes de Bourg. Just a few thousand cases are made each year from their small 14 acre vineyard, and we have but a small number to share today.

Cannot emphasize enough how rare this wine is, rarely seen in the wild, a search today reveals just about 10 listings with odd bottles out there, ranging from $225-$599 (gulp!) a bottle.

It’s such an over-the-top wine that Robert Parker has tasting notes over the decades that are a joy to read. They span from “so rich and concentrated one thinks of the opulence and richness of a Petrus or a Guigal La Mouline rather than a St-Émilion” to “in the blind tasting, I was convinced that the 1990 Tertre Rôteboeuf was the 1990 Le Pin - so much for experience.”

And our first time offering some is no exception, from a vintage that Wine Advocate reports “The 2019 vintage has turned out brilliantly in Bordeaux. Vibrant, concentrated and structurally seamless, the best combine striking aromatic range with notable intensity and persistence of flavor…”

The best? You’re looking at it. A very small stash of it for the lucky few.

100 Points – Tasting Book

“A thick nose full of blackberry aroma, violets, wild cherries, cocoa powder, and chocolate. Creamy all the way. It’s a magical wine with great flair, sophisticated touch, fatness, seamless structure, and silkiness. It may be a long-standing cliché, but again, an exceptional wine from Francois Mitjavile hits the roof! Wow!”

97+ Points – Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate

“François Mitjavile, St-Émilion’s philosophically minded gentleman farmer, continues to produce some of Bordeaux’s most singular and characterful wines from this amphitheater-shaped 5.6-hectare vineyard on the south-facing clay-limestone slopes of Saint-Laurent-de-Combes. Pruned in cordon and trained almost impossibly low to the ground, Mitjaville’s Merlot and Cabernet Franc fruit is harvested as late as possible, in pursuit of what he describes as the “sumptuous degradation” of its tannins. Vinification is in some respects rather old fashioned, with rather warm fermentations and élevage in new barrels (from Tonnellerie Radoux) in a cellar that fluctuates in temperature following the seasons without temperature control. His conviction is that, as he puts it, ‘the most original wines are paradoxically also the most traditional.’ Above all, Mitjavile has a horror of primary, monolithic wines, instead admiring aromatic complexity and textural sensuality; and Tertre Rôteboeuf exemplifies those priorities with its rich aromas uniting ultra-ripe but invariably surprisingly vibrant fruit tones with a rich patina of secondary and tertiary nuances. Their aging trajectory can be just as singular as their style: sometimes vintages that seem tired take on, a decade later, a new lease of life, and while Tertre Rôteboeuf often seems rather mature young, it tends to seem unusually youthful when it’s old. A mere paragraph is hardly enough to do justice to this estate and the man behind it, but it will have to suffice for now to say that the 2019 vintage at this address will delight admirers of Mitjavile’s wines and comes warmly recommended. The 2019 Le Tertre Rôteboeuf is a terrific success from the Mitjaville family. This amphitheatrical vineyard on the clay-limestone slopes of Saint-Laurent-des-Combes, planted with low, cordon-trained vines, has delivered a striking wine that wafts from the glass with aromas of cassis, blackberries and cherries mingled with notions of violets, cigar box, sweet spices and loamy soil. Full-bodied, layered and concentrated, with a deep core of fruit, velvety tannins and lively acids, it will richly reward a decade and more of bottle age. Interestingly, proprietor François Mitjaville contended that 2019’s distribution of rainfall had tended to invert the usual stylistic distinction between Tertre Rôteboeuf and Roc de Cambes, his wine from the Côtes de Bourg; yet, on the day of our tasting, geology trumped weather, because as usual the former was more sensual, the latter blockier and more structured. Drink 2027-2057.”

95-97 Points – Jeb Dunnuck

“The 2019 Château Tertre Roteboeuf shows the more elegant, polished style of the vintage nicely yet still has that sexy, perfumed, complex style that’s the hallmark of this cuvée. Loads of crème de cassis, kirsch liqueur, tobacco, white chocolate, espresso, and violet notes emerge on the nose, and this full-bodied beauty has a wonderful sense of balance and elegance, present tannins, and a great finish. It’s going to be a relatively accessible vintage from this great estate, yet I would bet on it evolving for 25 years or more.”

96 points – Antonio Galloni’s Vinous

“The 2019 Tertre-Rôteboeuf has an intriguing bouquet that requires some time to open in the glass, revealing a mixture of red and black fruit, enticing scents of melted tar and black truffle, and a touch of licorice, the latter becoming more and more noticeable with aeration. The medium-bodied palate delivers pliant tannins, sensual, slightly savory red fruit mixed with white pepper, sage and red peppercorns, and a touch of tobacco on the finish. This fans out wonderfully, lingering long in the mouth. Superb.”