The al dente fruit is so attractive with blackcurrants, dark plums and orange peel. The palate is medium- to full-bodied with tannins that start slowly, building at the end to a crescendo of intensity and power. It’s muscular and chewy but not overdone. A great second wine of Pichon Lalande. Needs time to soften and come together. Best after 2029.

Gorgeous aromatics, vibrant but deep too. Tannins make the impact straight away, there’s good density here, clear concentration this is carrying some heft in the really quite potent dark fruit flavours, spiced edges and sense of heat that comes through the underneath. Broad but focussed, definitely more streamlined than wide and plush, with almost chewy tannins but that have a pure cool blue fruit, liquorice and slate grip to them giving them edges and creating the linear focus. Feels well constructed, still on the tense nervous side but it has an appealing juicy grip too. 3.8pH. 50% grand vin, 50% second wine. 3.8pH. 2% Cabernet Franc completes the blend.

Deep purple-hued, the 2022 Pichon Comtesse Reserve is based on 54% Cabernet Sauvignon, 34% Merlot, 10% Petit Verdot, and the rest Cabernet Franc, raised 14 months in 50% new barrels. It's beautifully done and has a ripe, layered, yet still classic style in its ripe black and blue fruits, graphite, and floral notes. It's medium to full-bodied and has a round, layered mouthfeel and ripe tannins. I’d be thrilled to drink a bottle any time over the coming 15+ years.

Readers shouldn't overlook the 2022 Resèrve de la Comtesse, a lovely wine that's one of the most accomplished second wines of Bordeaux. Offering up aromas of sweet minty berries, burning embers, pencil shavings and violets, it's medium to full-bodied, lavish and aromatic, with an almost exotic core of fruit, powdery tannins and a penetrating finish. - William Kelley

The 2022 Réserve de la Comtesse Is a sexy wine. Plush contours wrap around a core of black cherry, plum, graphite and dried flowers. The 2022 is unusual in that it includes all the Petit Verdot produced at the property. That's a decision that paid off handsomely. -- Antonio Galloni

Laden with warmed cassis and dark plum notes, this moves slowly as bittersweet cocoa, espresso crema and dark tobacco accents fill in along the way. Cedar and savory hints add range and cut to the finish, and there's ample latent depth. A touch old school and can handle some cellaring. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc. Best from 2026 through 2038. — J.M.

Beautiful depth of colour, enticing aromatics, holds your interest, dark chocolate block, slate and firm tannins, luscious fruit, clearly ripe, but it keeps the Pauillac signature, getting a shot of espresso and pure bilberry as it opens, super enjoyable, not quite as persistent perhaps as the very best years, but this is good. Nicolas Glumineau director, Eric Boissenot consultant. Harvest September 8, lasting for three weeks.

The second wine of Pichon-Comtesse, made by Nicolas Glumineau, this is a blend of 54% Cabernet Sauvignon, 34% Merlot, 2% Cabernet Franc and 10% Petit Verdot, the later variety generally reserved for the Réserve, if you will pardon the phrase. The élevage was in 50% new oak, 50% second-fill barrel, for close to 14 months, and this accounts for 40% of the production in this vintage. The nose is savoury and complex, with notes of black fruit, tar, liquorice, cigar box, charcoal and smoke. There follows a supple blend on the palate, rather dry and bold in style, with sinewy fruit and evident tannic grip underpinning it. The grip persists through to the finish, beneath that supple upper layer;it all works well, although it cries out for cellar time. Long, savoury, gripped and dark, this is one of the better second wines in this vintage, so don’t broach this one too early. The alcohol is 13.8%. - Chris Kissack