Montegrappa Bordeaux

[jgrasty]

I received Montegrappa Bordeaux ink in the August Goulet Pens Ink Drop, and, given my fondness for bordeaux inks, immediately (well, after Noodler's Blue Nose Bear ), inked up a couple of pens to give it a test drive. And wow, what a great ink. I'd have to confess that Montegrappa was not even on my radar screen until I got this sample, and now I'll be paying more attention to Montegrappa.

 

I'd meant to start the review of this ink with my Waterman's 52-1/2V, but apparently I wasn't awake enough this morning, and the letter F suddenly came after C. Hmmm... I'll start over... Anyway, that annoyed me enough that I put aside the Waterman's and inked up my old style Pelikan M400 Brown Tortoise with a Binder XXF full flex added nib. This nib is tuned for more modern, wet inks, and Montegrappa Bordeaux worked well, even though it is a little on the dry side, in this nib, though I did have to fill in a railroad track here and there due to being a little too aggressive with flexing the nib.

 

Next, I put into my Pelikan M700 with its rather wet BB nib, and the shading shown with this ink is quite impressive and beautiful. Still, the nib didn't write to its full width, as Montegrappa Bordeaux is a little on the dry side, as I've said earlier.

 

Finally, I inked up my Waterman's 52, which has a wet noodle #2 nib that really only shines with dry inks, and it just loved Montegrappa Bordeaux.

 

The paper here is Rhodia No 19 dot pad. There was no feathering, no bleed through, and very little show through. The ink also cleans up very quickly. In my Pelikans, 4 or 5 flushes was enough to remove all traces of ink from the pens. That is really outstanding, as most modern inks take 10 to 12.

 

Finally, I had a little space left, so I swabbed a few similar inks. Using Diamine Syrah as the "standard", Montegrappa Bordeaux is less saturated and has a bit more purple in it. Montblanc Bordeaux is a little more red, Noodler's Black Swan in English Roses is a bit more brownish. For fun, I also include "Binder Burgundy", which is a 50/50 mix of Waterman Purple and Sheaffer Slovenian Skrip Red; it appears just very slightly more red than Syrah.

 

Those of you that like burgundy / bordeaux inks, well, you're just going to have to fork over some bucks and get this one. I'd promised myself I wouldn't buy any more inks for a while after I splurged for Platinum Mix-Free set, but... :bonk:

 

http://bettygrastymd.com/jgrasty/wp-content/uploads/montegrappa-bordeaux.jpg

[PenTieRun]

It's a little more pink than I like my bordeaux, but it still appears a very nice ink. Thank you for posting the review.

[kushbaby]

Oh, this is just LOVELY! And I like that it is dry - I have a few pens that really need dry inks to behave properly.

 

Thanks for the review - I can't wait to get my Ink Drop now...

[MidnightBlue]

Does anyone know who makes the ink for Montegrappa.???Thanks

[lapis]

Thank you for this review.

The shading -- just like your own handwriting -- is phenomenal.

Still, I don't like the colour of the ink because IMO for a Bordeaux and/or a Burgundy, it is too pale and blue, yet not enough dark and red. Syrah and Binder's equivalent fill the bill much better here.

 

Mike http://i654.photobucket.com/albums/uu264/peli46/GlassofWine.gif

[Wael El-Dasher]

That's a great looking Bordeaux, but it might be my screen that's making it look good to me, because I have used the MB Bordeaux and it never seemed as bright as the sample you've shown. I often feel Apple screens make things look brighter than actually are.

 

You've encourage me to order a bottle to try it out though. Thanks for the great review.

 

cheers

 

Wael