(JS 99-100 points) What a finish on this Pontet-Canet. So much energy and brightness. It's full-bodied yet so tight and focused with superb fruit and transparency. It is racy and fine with super fine texture. It's like...

A beautifully layered red with blackcurrant, hazelnut and lead-pencil character and fine, velvety tannins. Full-bodied and reserved. It’s like a tightly knit ball of polished tannins that are cashmere in texture. So very...

As always, it is the Cabernet Sauvignon that sings. It brings an impressive structure to the wine, rich tannins and powerful black fruits. The wine is set for aging. It shows all the power and the open quality of the...

Dark, deep, rich, earthy, chocolatey, tobacco-stained black currants that caress your palate with a serious depth of flavor, density, richness, and density. This has just entered the start of its drinking window. Drink...

This has aromas of blackberries, porcini mushrooms, tobacco and charred bark. It’s medium-bodied with fine, supple tannins. Savory, with plenty of earth and mineral character. Fresh finish. Drink or hold.

The 2010 Pontet-Canet is a blend of 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc, and 1% Petit Verdot. Deep garnet-black in color, it sashays out of the glass with opulent scents of Chinese five spice, smoked...

(JL 98-100 points) Dark in color, the wine kicks open the door with its floral bouquet. From there, you find in the perfume, crushed stone, red fruits, licorice, spice, and wild cherries. On the palate, the wine is...

(VN 98-100 points) The 2022 Léoville Las-Cases was picked 8-30 September with more infusion than extraction, matured in 84% new oak. Precocious, almost decadent blackberry and blueberry fruit on the nose, there is...

Fabulous aromas of blackcurrant, blueberry, crushed stone, graphite and lead pencil. Some violets and other flowers, too. Full-bodied with incredibly encompassing tannins that are like the finest velvet in texture. The...

A wine I was able to taste on multiple occasions, the 2015 Troplong Mondot is a tour de force that readers need to snatch up. This cuvee comes from the cool, clay and limestone soils on the upper plateau (it’s the highest...

The 2019 Leoville Barton is a blend of 84% Cabernet Sauvignon and 16% Merlot. Deep garnet-purple in color, it features a wonderfully fragrant nose of blackberry preserves, warm plums, and blackcurrant jelly, followed by...

Pure perfection in a glass, the incredible 2009 Troplong Mondot offers off the chart notes of blackcurrants, licorice, truffles and saddle leather that just soar from the glass. This is a big, ripe, incredibly sexy wine...

(98-100 points) One of the finest wines to ever pass my lips, the 2022 Château Cos D'Estournel is a monument in the making. Based on 61% Cabernet Sauvignon, 37% Merlot, and 1% each of Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot, this...

The 2020 Pape Clément is outrageously beautiful. Dark, virile and imposing, the 2020 is a rare vintage of Pape Clément that is vertical and statuesque in feel. Dark fruit, chocolate, new leather, licorice and cloves...

This full, fruity wine is packed with acidity as well as ripeness. It has a fresh black-currant character, and the structure underneath is strong. It will develop relatively quickly, but then could hold at its peak for...

A blend of 64% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc, and 2% Petit Verdot, the 2017 Pontet-Canet is deep garnet-purple colored. It skips out of the glass with youthful notes of black raspberries, fresh...

The 2018 La Gaffelière is hands down one of the wines of the vintage. Towering in its stature and vertical lift, the 2018 dazzles right out of the gate. Inky dark fruit, mocha, spice, licorice and leather all run through...

(98-100) Composed of 94% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Merlot, and 1% Petit Verdot, the 2022 Lafite Rothschild is deep garnet-purple in color. The nose is almost impenetrable to start, needing a lot of shaking to wake up...

Inky in color, you have a hard time seeing into the glass. The wine opens with notes of wet clay, flowers, black plums, truffle, black currants, and blackberries. On the palate, the wine is intensely concentrated with...

Tasted blind at Bordeaux Index’s 2000 tasting in London. This is reticent on the nose at first, but opens up nicely with time, blackberry, plum, black coffee, cedar and a slight estuarine note. The palate is full-bodied...

The 2020 Mangot has turned out beautifully, bursting with aromas of cherries, wild berries, rose petals, blood orange and bay leaf. Medium to full-bodied, supple and seamless, it's pure and vibrant, with a layered core of...

(98-100 points) Full-bodied, concentrated, rich and velvety, the wine promptly provides layer after layer of flawlessly ripe, black and dark red pit fruits, crushed rocks, licorice, espresso, smoke and flowers. Long...

The 2019 Faurie de Souchard is fabulous, just as it was from barrel. There is a feeling of exuberance in the 2019 that is absolutely irresistible. Succulent dark cherry, mocha, cedar, tobacco, licorice, dried herbs and...

(98 - 100 points) The 2022 Mouton Rothschild, 92% Cabernet Sauvignon and 8% Merlot, is aging in 100% new oak. Deep garnet-purple in color, it is incredibly closed to start off, needing a lot of shaking to wake up subtle...

(98-100 points) I think one of the legendary wines in the vintage will be the 2022 Château Les Carmes Haut-Brion, which comes from a tiny vineyard not far from Haut-Brion and is based on 40% Cabernet Franc, 34% Cabernet...

Layered, textured, deep, cigar box, cassis and earth, managing to simultaneously stretch out, and burrow down. The edges open slowly but surely and seductively. Still inky in colour, this has all the powerful texture and...

The 2020 Cantenac Brown is a knock-out. A Margaux of towering intensity, the 2020 is dense and vertical at the same time. It's a combination that works so well. Dark cherry, plum, chocolate, new leather, licorice and...

The 2020 Grand Corbin Despagne is fabulous. Rich, dark and ample, the 2020 possesses off the charts richness and tons of intensity. Blackberry jam, crème de cassis, cloves, lavender and chocolate all build in this...

Composed of 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc, and 2% Petit Verdot, the 2019 Pontet-Canet is deep garnet-purple in color. It features notes of prunes, creme de cassis, and wilted roses, followed by...

Brilliant stuff, the 2019 Château Lafon-Rochet shows the best of the vintage with its pure, precise, elegant, yet at the same time concentrated style. Showing lots of ripe currant, plum, tobacco, Asian spice, and cedar...