Flowers, tobacco, spice, currants and black raspberries define the aromatic profile. On the palate, the wine is medium-bodied, almost light on its feet with sweet black currants, peppery cherries, chewy blackberries, dark...

Quite possibly the finest vintage of this cuvée I've tasted, the 2020 Château Canon-La-Gaffelière offers that rare mix of richness and elegance that makes this vintage so compelling. Classic notes of cassis, ripe black...

(WE 96–98 points) The wine has richness but its main attraction is the balance between acidity and the light touch that gives the wine great freshness. The touch of Cabernet Franc in the blend brings its own perfumed...

(WE 95–97 points) The wine is dense with warm tannins supporting black fruit tones and acidity. Juicy and spicy, the wine's Cabernet Sauvignon shows so well with black currant flavors. It is fresh and it obviously it...

This is lovely, with steeped currant, fig and blackberry fruit flavors that flow easily along with singed juniper, black tea and iron notes. At peak, but no rush, as the balance is there.—Blind 2000 Bordeaux retrospective...

This has an array of very assertive dark berries and plums with graphite and cedary oak. The palate is more muscular here. More assertive firmness to the tannins. Give it time. Try from 2023.

Loads of raspberry and blackberry jam on the nose. Full and pretty, with strawberry jam and vanilla character, yet still subtle and fresh. Give this time to mellow. Pull the cork after 2012. Find the wine

Really smoky, coffee bean aromas on the nose with ripe blackcurrants. Great texture and flavour here, it's full of herbs and liquorice-tinged black fruits (cherries mainly) but really well integrated so that no one aspect...

Needs coaxing out of the glass, as is true with so many 2005s even at 16 years old, but straight off the first nose you get the most beautiful nuance and turmeric-strewn spice. It's exotic if subtle, with a creamy...

(92-94 points) Very opulent, generous and rich. It shows all the glories of the vintage, with huge but sufficiently restrained fruit, and exuberant tannins. ROGER VOSS

(JS 97-98 points) A very structured young Haut-Brion with blackberry, blackcurrant, black-olive and mushroom character. Medium to full-bodied with a driving balance of firm and ripe tannins and gorgeous fruit. 50.3%...

The 2020 La Gaffelière is superb. Rich, dense and explosive. Black cherry, gravel, licorice, grilled herbs and menthol race out of the glass. Deep, pliant and explosive, the 2020 is magnificent. At this stage, the 2020 is...

A gorgeous wine, yet one that's going to demand bottle age, the 2019 La Mondotte comes from a tiny vineyard located just beside Pavie Decesse and is always a blend of mostly Merlot with roughly 15-30% Cabernet Franc...

(92+ points) Deep garnet-purple in color, the 2018 La Rose Perriere hits the ground running with a gorgeous perfume of Black Forest cake, ripe, juicy plums, blackberry preserves and lilacs, plus suggestions of licorice...

Aromas of jam and sweet dark fruits. Mint too. Full body, with velvety tannins and plenty of ripe fruit. Long and caressing finish. Second wine of Giscours. Better in 2016.

Currants and dark fruits with hints of licorice. Full and silky with ripe tannins and berry. Cigar tobacco and berry. Sweet tobacco. This is a wine that shows serious depth of fruit and refined tannins. Better in 2016.

The black olives and dark fruit come through on the nose with violets and wet earth. Full and very chunky and powerful. Yet it’s lively and vivid with excellent energy. Fantastic. Pure merlot. Leave it until 2030.

I loved the 2019 Château Latour-Martillac, and I under-rated it from barrel. Revealing a dense ruby/plum color as well as a gorgeous bouquet of blackcurrants, black cherry, smoked tobacco, gravely earth, and chocolate, it...

(95–97 points) Barrel Sample. Loaded with juicy acidity and layers of spice. The wine is packed with fruit that contrasts with the firm tannins that lie in the background giving a polished structure to this ageworthy...

Aromas of currants, walnuts and blackberries follow through to a full-bodied palate with fine, chewy tannins and a linear finish. Shows polish and beautiful length. Lovely second wine. Try after 2025.

(JD 96-98 points) A rocking bouquet of blue fruits, dark chocolate, damp earth, and violet emerges from the 2019 Château L'Evangile, a slightly fresher yet still deep, concentrated expression of this château...

A seductive Margaux with an intense nose of black fruit and red plums. Some herb and wood notes, too. It’s full-bodied with pretty, pure-berry flavors with some crushed stones and cement. The texture is silky and...

(91-93 points) A blend of close to equal parts Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon (it was a great vintage for the Merlot in this cuvée), the 2018 Les Griffons De Pichon Baron is aging in 60% new French oak barrels, where it...

The 2021 Pichon-Longueville Comtesse de Lalande is a towering wine. Just as it did en primeur, the 2021 dazzles from start to finish. The Cabernets are very high in the blend, and that comes through in a Saint-Julien...

Another head-turning vintage from this château, the 2020 Château Sansonnet is based on 95% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Sauvignon, and the rest Cabernet Franc, from yields of 36 hectoliters per hectare, that was raised in 80% new...

A knockout example of the wine, one to track down and grab hold of. This showcases the fresh lift of Siran, the depth of expression, but it is also so finessed and elegant, inching forward in power through the palate...

Subtle and complex aromas of dried flowers, berries, blackberries and black olives. Minerals, limestone and rust to boot. Full-bodied, layered and tannic, yet the phenolic structure is all about strength with finesse. It...