Blackcurrant, orange peel and green coffee bean aromas follow through to a full body with medium, round tannins. Citrusy, juicy and rose bush finish. Chewy and intense. Some old vine character with bark and dark mushroom. Solid! One for the cellar. 72% cabernet sauvignon and 28% merlot. From biodynamically grown grapes. Demeter certification. Try after 2027.

Dark and brooding, blackcurrant, black cherry and milk chocolate with floral flecks. Thick but so juicy, really alive in the glass, forward and bold, still with bite but also density of tannins, fleshy right now. Herbal medicinal raspberry and strawberries and red cherries comprise the fruit flavours on the palate. Tannins are super smooth, really harmonious, while still having density and plushness. There are wines in this vintage that make you smile and this is one of them - very charming. The sucrosity gives a tiny bit of sweetness to the cheeks and the acidity is great. I love the savoury nature too, the liquorice and clove are well balanced and it really gives the Pauillac power. Very complete, a shining star.

The 2020 Haut-Bages Libéral is exceptionally beautiful and vivid. Hard candy, kirsch, rose petal, cinnamon and blood orange are some of the many notes that race across the palate. A wine of magnificent purity and silkiness, the Haut-Bages Libéral is simply captivating in its intensity. Bright acids punctuate the articulate, persistent finish. Magnificent. -- Antonio Galloni

Coming from the heart of this hallowed appellation (the main vineyard is just north of Château Latour), the 2020 Château Haut-Bages Libéral sports a vivid purple hue as well as a beautiful perfume of cassis and plum-like fruits interwoven with licorice, violets, damp earth, and subtle underbrush-like aromas and flavors. It's medium-bodied and has a focused, elegant mouthfeel, beautiful tannins, and outstanding length. It shows the focused, elegant, yet concentrated style of this vintage beautifully. Give bottles another 3-5 years and enjoy through 2050.

The 2020 Haut-Bages-Libéral is supple and seamless, bursting with aromas of sweet dark berries, petals and licorice, followed by a medium to full-bodied, ample and fleshy palate. Succulent and polished, it will offer a broad drinking window. As readers will remember, this wine derives from biodynamically farmed vineyards located on clay-limestone and gravel soils to the north of Château Latour (as well as a parcel of gravel sandwiched between Pichon-Baron and Lynch-Bages). - William Kelley

Pauillac character abounds in the shoulders and muscular construction to the tannins, a little angular at first, giving way to show blackcurrant and bilberry fruit, with black chocolate, crushed rocks and smoked earth. 40% new oak, 30% one year, and the rest in amphora/cement eggs, 44hl/h yield. Claire Villars-Lurton is increasingly making this an estate to watch.