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...

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...

Creamy blackberry and loganberry fruits with touches of brioche, and flaky pastry. Young, needs time, still in the plump early fruit phase, more exuberant than a young Saint Pierre in most vintages, but this will close...

(98+ points) One of the finest vintages I've ever tasted from this address, the 2018 Château Lynch-Bages has everything you look for in a great wine: incredible aromatics, richness without weight, perfect balance, and a...

The 2018 Château Margaux is composed of 90% Cabernet Sauvignon, 4% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot, representing 36% of the crop this year. The wine has a pH of 3.8 and 14% alcohol. Deep purple-black in...

Aromas of blackberry, plum, cocoa, iodine, clove and graphite. It’s medium-to full-bodied with firm, silky tannins. Tightly wound and mineral at the moment, with dusty gravel and graphite notes, yet with focus and...

An immensely structured wine, this is complex, concentrated and yet so contained. The wine impresses with its balance, layers of succulent black-currant fruits and effortless style. A wine for the long term, it should not...

This is a very linear red and layered at the same time, showing blackberry, blueberry, black-truffle, bark and stone character. Chalk and minerality, too. It’s full-bodied and well framed with gorgeous intensity and...

The 2018 Haut-Brion is composed of 49.4% Merlot, 38.7% Cabernet Sauvignon and 11.9% Cabernet Franc. Deep garnet-purple in color, the wine needs a lot of swirling before it begins to release a whole complex melody of...

(92-94 points) The base Gigondas, the 2018 Gigondas Vieilles Vignes is a blend from both the La Louisiane and Pigière lieux-dits near the estate (due to the dismal yields, there’s no Souteyrade cuvée in 2018) and is 80%...

Notes of black-currant liqueur and preserved black plum are accented with violet petal in this rich and rounded yet sharply balanced Pinot Noir. It's a deeply concentrated, almost meaty sip marked by hints of licorice and...

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.

A dark, winey style, with lots of fig, plum and blackberry paste flavors layered together, with sweet tobacco, licorice snap and warm earth accents filling in. Packed but defined, with a graphite spine through the finish...

Hard to go wrong with recent vintages of Grand Puy Lacoste. This doesn't quite hit the strides of 2016 or 2019, but for me is more successful than either 2015 or 2017. This is full of Pauillac classicism in its cassis...

From vineyards just below the iconic windmill (moulin-à-vent), this is a powerfully structured and very ageworthy wine. Black fruits and rich tannins convey complexity. This wine will age well and should not be drunk...

Ripe black fruits shine through this balanced wine, showing strongly against a backdrop of rich, generous tannins. This estate is one to watch as it achieves the form the vineyard deserves. Expect this wine to be ready to...

(91-93 points) Planted at the same time as Craipillot, Au Closeau offers a brighter deeper richer purple. This is luxurious but not clumsy, with a little spicy touch, from 50% whole bunch. Works very well here, with a...

This estate is in a cool, limestone terroir on the eastern side of Saint- Emilion, and it's been firing on all cylinders over the past decade, in no small part due to the talented director, David Suire. The 2018 Château...

One of the best Côte de Beaune reds of the vintage. The four blocks that make up the blend of this justly celebrated Pommard Premier Cru red amount to 5.23ha and range in age between 36 and 100 years' old. Aged in one...

It’s rare to taste gamay from Moulin-à-Vent and think of Volnay. And, as much as I would praise the beauty and grandeur of this wine, a pure extract of the earth, I wonder what that association with the Côte de Beaune is...

This estate is in a cool, limestone terroir on the eastern side of Saint- Emilion, and it's been firing on all cylinders over the past decade, in no small part due to the talented director, David Suire. The 2018 Château...

Aromas of ripe berry, mushroom, ash and smoke follow through to a full body with a ripe, juicy center palate and lots of creamy tannins that are balanced and refined. Generous and very intense. Tight palate now. Give it...

Up with the crème de la crème of the vintage, the 2018 Châteauneuf Du Pape Vieilles Vignes is a bigger, richer wine than the Les Origines cuvée and has a beautiful core of smoked black fruits, candied violets, peppery...

(92-95 points) I tasted from two barrels seemingly destined for the 2018 Saint Joseph les Pierres. One was full-bodied, plush and long, with notes of mocha and black cherries, while the other showed explosive red fruit...