Composed of 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 27% Merlot, 2% Cabernet Franc, and 1% Carmenere, the 2016 Brane-Cantenac is deep garnet-purple colored. It is a little broody, with notes of tar and rubber giving way to a core of creme...

The 2021 Malescot St. Exupery has a deep garnet-purple color. It is quite closed to start, unfurling to reveal notes of black and red currants, boysenberries, and tar, followed by wafts of wild sage and pencil lead. The...

Bright, full ruby-red. Aromas of blackberry, chocolate, cedar and violet. Sweet and rich but tight, with sound acidity accenting the wine's spicy intensity and extending its dark fruit flavors. A distinctly rich style of...

(94-97 points) As to the Grand Vin, red, blue, and black fruits, intermixed with spring flowers, iris, graphite, and sappy tobacco, all define the 2025 Château Giscours, giving it a beautiful Cabernet-driven style. Based...

The 2020 Lascombes has a discrete, finely delineated bouquet that unfolds in the glass with blackberry, bilberry, crushed violet and a touch of iodine. The palate is medium-bodied with sour cherry and brown spices on the...

Black cherries, plums, flowers and a dollop of cocoa pop in the perfume. On the palate, the wine is supple creamy and fresh with a nice sweetness to the fruits, lift and a dusty, edged finish. Drink from 2025-2040.

The 2022 from Lascombes is a blend of 67% Cabernet Sauvignon and 30% Merlot, the remaining 3% being Petit Verdot. A dark, opaque hue in the glass, and a highly scented nose laden with oaky dark chocolate, with notes of...

Supple, soft, and creamy, the floral-edged wine is loaded with elegant, polished, sweet, ripe, delicious fruits that flow across your palate with ease. This baby Brane is perfect to enjoy on release while waiting for the...

The 2009 Brane-Cantenac is a blend of 53% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot, and 7% Cabernet Franc. Deep garnet colored, it barrels out of the glass with bold notions of baked blackberries, warm cassis, and stewed plums...

(96 + points) Medium to deep garnet-purple in color, the 2017 Palmer needs considerable swirling to shake loose its gorgeous perfume of Morello cherries, blackcurrant pastilles and wild blueberries with emerging...

Concentrated but restrained with old school charm and an abundance of muscular tannins, it's easy to feel the heart of this wine, packed with liqourice, slate, black chocolate, cassis, brambled hedgerow, aniseed and...

The 2016 du Tertre has a medium to deep garnet color. It rolls out with expressive scents of black raspberries, warm cassis, and redcurrant jelly, plus hints of tobacco leaf and dried Provencal herbs. Light to...

The 2010 Brane-Cantenac marked the first year that optical sorting was used and the replanting of a parcel of Petit Verdot. This has long been a favourite vintage, the nose in a class of its own with mineral-driven black...

(96+ points) The 2023 Brane-Cantenac is deep, bold and explosive, yet also closed in on itself. That won't be a problem in another few years' time, but today, the Grand Vin is embryonic. Time in the glass brings out...

(96-98 points) Cassis, graphite, liquid violets, and tobacco all define the 2025 Château Brane-Cantenac, a blend of 77% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot, and 1% each Cabernet Franc, Carménère, and Petit Verdot that's being...

Much better than my previous tasting, ago, now you find a round, concentrated, blackberry, black currant, and black cherry-filled wine with nuances of green, leafy herbs, forest floor, tobacco leaf, and spice box notes in...

This stood out immediately among the five first growth wines for its floral hit right off the first nose. The epitome of elegance, as I found at the 10-year point, but it is now also starting to deepen and layer, with...

Showing consistently and from a bottle purchased locally and drunk over multiple days, the 2016 Château Margaux is a magical wine that tastes like the essence of Margaux. Red and black currants, blueberries, spring...

This estate's second wine, the 1995 Pavillon du Chateau Margaux, may turn out to be one of the most delicious examples the property has made. The wine is forward, sexy, round, and generous, with gobs of black fruit and a...

The 2003 Pavillon Rouge has a respectable bouquet with brambly red fruit, orange rind, freshly-rolled tobacco and peppermint. This is actually fresher than some Grand Vins tasted. The palate is medium-bodied with soft...

Deep purple-hued, the 2023 Château Margaux Pavillon Rouge offers gorgeous crème de cassis, spring flowers, graphite, and spicy wood-driven aromatics. It's medium to full-bodied on the palate, remarkably pure, and has...

(95-97 points) Cassis, blueberries, smoky tobacco, and the classic Margaux spice and complexity all define the 2025 Pavillon Rouge Du Château Margaux, which has more than a passing resemblance to the Grand Vin. Based on...

The 2023 Alter Ego is soft, open-knit and floral, with exceptional balance and tons of class. Crushed flowers, bright red-toned fruit, blood orange, mint, chalk and white pepper are all beautifully lifted in the glass...

(92-94 points) Rocking notes of red, blue, and black fruits, roasted herbs, graphite, and chocolate define the 2025 Alter Ego, a blend of 54% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot, and 6% Petit Verdot that's being raised in 20%...

The 1995 Palmer is a step up in quality over preceding vintages. This gorgeous bouquet has vibrant red fruit, rose petals and violet. A touch of melted road tar comes through with time. Classic Palmer. The palate is...

This wine is very fragrant, with blackberries, blueberries, black olives, bark and forest floor as well as some minerals and stone. Medium-bodied with racy and firm tannins that build to a fresh and steely finish. Needs...

Quite vivid aromatics on the nose, deep and heady, blue fruit, peppercorns, liquorice and cocoa powder. Fruity and really quite dense in terms of chewiness and flavour. Stands out in the line up for being forward, lifted...