"It has been a year since I last tasted the 2019 Château Thébaud from Domaine de la Pépière. As I mentioned last year, this was the last vintage at the helm of Domaine de la Pépière for Marc Ollivier, as he retired the following year after making the 2019s. This bottling is made from a parcel that was mostly planted in the 1960s and 1970s, though the oldest vines that go into this bottling were planted in 1957. The 2019 Château Thébaud has blossomed beautifully with a year’s worth of bottle age, delivering a bouquet of fresh lime, breadfruit, a very complex foundation of crystalline granite minerality, dried flowers, citrus zest, sweet leesy tones and a lovely, briny maritime topnote. On the palate the wine is bright, full-bodied and very much defined by its underlying minerality, with a beautiful core of old vine fruit, zesty acids, great focus and balance and a long, complex and very refined finish. This is truly a tour de force of great winemaking bringing out the sheer brilliance of a great terroir. It is a fitting closing monument to the magical career of Marc Ollivier! 2024-2065. "