Just opened the 2013 Leon Millot that was bottled before Christmas 2013. We had a great growing season and the grapes finished with good sugar acid balance of 22 brix, ph 3.1. The season was hot and long and the fruit conditions warranted a conventional maceration and fermentation of the grapes.
We were looking for a mid weight Leon Millot with a bit of shelf life and less fruit explosion and a bit more complexity. So far we are on the way. The acid has tamed somewhat since the bottling stage as expected. This is common for the first few months after bottling and then the acid reduction starts to slow.
By way of balance, the wine is nice and drinkable now especially with a 3 hr decanting but a year from now would be quite nice. The colour is mozambique garnet red with the slightest of purple hues expected of a young red wine. The aroma is strong in ripe plum (65%) with less cherry aroma than when it was bottled but still noticeable (25%) followed by a hint licorice (5-10%) which is new for me in aromas of Leon Millot and also an aroma that I usually have a more difficult time separating from the others.
The flavours have changed also and the stand out is dark sweet cherry (60%), with dark chocolate almost cocoa bean (30%), and a hint of raspberry (10%).
The wine is nice and for those who don't know Leon Millot would be reminiscent of Syrah but its a lighter wine, not as big or complex as a Syrah. Leon Millot is also very vinifera like with usually no hybrid flavours and this is no exception.
