The perfume bursts with a bouquet of flowers, candied lemon peels, pineapple, white peach, orange, mango, vanilla, saffron, and anise. It is a lively, bright, energetic vintage for Chateau d'Yquem. Rich, intense, opulent...

The 2020 L'Hêtre has a more restrained and nuanced bouquet that unfolds in the glass, with more mineralité and terroir expression than the preceding d'Aiguilhe. The palate is medium-bodied with finely chiseled tannins and...

This 2005 is really coming into its own, with soft, welcoming rose bud, chalk, bilberry, cocoa bean and tobacco. The tannins remain well structured, and you can see the muscles that kept this pretty closed for the first...

This is stylish, with perfumy black tea and smoldering charcoal aromas followed by lightly mulled plum, fig and blackberry fruit. An echo of juniper shows on the mineral-edged finish. Drink now through 2024. — JM

A classy, balanced and sumptuous du Tertre, a ton of appellation and vintage signature. Lace-like tannins, overperforms the estate at the time, showing just how much quality and value is out there for this vintage...

With roughly 4,960 cases produced, the 2023 Château Bellefont-Belcier comes from a brilliant terroir just beside Larcis Ducasse and Pavie (as well as Troplong Mondot and Tertre Roteboeuf). Based on 72% Merlot, 18%...

A blend of 61% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 5.5% Cabernet Franc, and 3.5% Petit Verdot aged 18 months in 60% new French oak, the 2023 Château Branaire-Ducru offers terrific aromatics of pure cassis, graphite, lots of...

The first year with sufficient quality grapes, plus an improved global outlook, at least with the Chinese market, to allow the new owners to show what they had achieved over the previous four or five years. It is one of...

Toasted notes on the nose, remnants of oak and blackcurrant. Full and round. Plush, gently chewy fruit and powdery tannins give this a wider mouthfeel than some. Plenty of flavour and classic claret character, freshness...

This is a blend of 50% Merlot, 35% Cabernet Franc and 15% Cabernet Sauvignon, matured in barrels using just 40% new oak, and in vats, for 15 months. Some smoky oak in the aromatic profile here, with a fruit profile that...

The 2012 Latour…wine of the vintage? It has to be a serious contender. In this blind taste-off between the five First Growths, its quality shines through. With exceptional delineation on the nose, it just oozes class with...

Even better from the bottle, this is a spell-binding sweet wine that lovers of this genre cannot be without. Intense, electric, and packed with ripe and overripe, honey-slathered tropical fruits, cashews, white peaches...

From bottle, the 2023 Château Cheval Blanc is one of the most compelling wines of the vintage, just as it was from cask. Bursting with aromas of cherries and mulberries mingled with notions of violets, rose petal and...

(96+ points) With a shortened cuvaison of 21 days instead of the usual 30, lower fermentation temperatures (around 26 degrees Celsius) and the abandonment of crushing, the 2023 Cos d'Estournel shows to striking effect. It...

The 2023 d'Armailhac has a delightful bouquet, beautifully defined with pure black fruit laced with graphite. The oak is seamlessly integrated. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannins, laden with (again)...

Coming from the gravelly soils of Saint-Julien, the 2023 Château Ducru-Beaucaillou is based on 85% Cabernet Sauvignon and the balance Merlot and Petit Verdot, brought up all in new barrels. This deep purple-hued beauty...

The 2014 Enclos Tourmaline is 100% Merlot from a tiny parcel in Peter Kwok’s property located on the plateau of Pomerol, between Chateau Clinet and Chateau Feytit-Clinet. This beauty is a terrific success in the vintage...

The 2022 Giscours has a very classy, sophisticated bouquet with mineral-laden black fruit, wilted violet and crushed stone, precise with seamlessly integrated oak. The palate is silky smooth, beautifully balanced...

A textbook Pauillac, with a slightly taciturn feel to its rock-steady beam of cassis and bitter cherry fruit, allied to a bright iron spine. Flecks of savory and tobacco dart about, adding a sparkle of energy through the...

From healthy yields and a blend of 58% Cabernet Sauvignon, 34% Merlot, 4% Petit Verdot, and the rest Cabernet Franc aged 16 months in 50% new French oak, the 2023 Château Haut-Bailly is an ultra-classy Haut-Bailly with...

Deep garnet-brick in color, the 2014 La Mission Haut-Brion needs a swirl or two to unlock notes of blackberry pie, creme de cassis, and espresso plus nuances of truffle, tapenade, and fragrant soil. The medium to...

Such gorgeous fruit, with extremely polished tannins and a persistent finish. The new oak comes out at the finish, but it should melt together with age. A joy to taste now but better in 2016.

More concentrated and exuberant than the 2017, reflective of a year where they lost 50% of the harvest to mildew - the Cantenac plateau was the epicentre of the issues in the vintage, and here Kirwan was taking its first...

(92 + points) La Lagune 2019 is deep garnet-purple in color. Notes of warm cassis, blackberry preserves, and fruitcake waft from the glass, leading to hints of cloves, dried herbs, and pencil lead. The medium-bodied...

The 2015 Lafite-Rothschild is slightly higher in tone than the Mouton-Rothschild on the nose, with scents of blackberry, iodine, cedar and crushed violet emerging with time in the glass. The palate is medium-bodied and...

Amazing aromas here with tobacco, crushed stone, cigar box, currants, tar, and lead pencil, as well as spices, iron, and dried ginger. Medium- to full-bodied, with a density and tightness. Very compact and complex. Racy...