(92–94 points) Barrel sample. A solid effort, this is a wine with great fruit and firm structure to support it. Ripe and full in the mouth, it's a firm and complex wine with a delicious juicy aftertaste. ROGER VOSS

This second wine of Château Montrose is ripe and structured. In 2012, it formed 29% of total production at Montrose. It opens with severe tannins that transform into ripe blackberry as the wine opens out. Solidly...

The 2012 Latour…wine of the vintage? It has to be a serious contender. In this blind taste-off between the five First Growths, its quality shines through. With exceptional delineation on the nose, it just oozes class with...

Cassis puree, with gourmet edges of smoked caramel, blacberry and spiced plum. This is tight at the moment, needs a good few hours in a carafe to really show itself, and will improve further over next few years. 40% new...

The 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon Mon Chevalier is composed of 86% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Cabernet Franc, 3% Merlot and the rest Malbec and Petit Verdot, all from Knight’s Valley and aged in large oak puncheons. The least...

(92–94 points) Barrel sample. With so much spicy fruit, intensely ripe blackberry flavors and solid tannins, all the elements of excellence are here, and powered by a firm structure. This wine has weight and a fine...

Young, and filled with promise, due to its multiple layers of sweet, silky, ripe, juicy, red fruits, licorice and spice. Round in texture, if you can't keep your hands off your stash, I understand as it's tasting great...

(WE93-95 points) Barrel sample. This is a finely balanced wine that’s ripe and structured at the same time. It has richness and spice, with a powerful context of wood, juicy blackberry fruits and delicious acidity. With...

Unusually in terms of my recent experience, this is tasting far more plump and inviting than the 2011 right now - with well defined and purely-delivered cassis and bilberry flavours, some creamy texture and enjoyably...

This has ripe fruit, packed with strawberry jam with a good concentration as well as red plums and rounded tannins. It is rich and smooth, although well cut with tannins and acidity. This balanced wine will age well...

Milk chocolate, butterscotch and black cherry dominate the nose on this deep-violet-colored wine. Rich flavors of black plum, black cherry, chocolate-covered espresso bean and lavender are nestled into a framework of...

This structured wine with big, bold red fruits offers ripe acidity, a dense texture and considerable concentration. It also has the hallmark freshness of the vintage that balances the strong aging potential. Drink from 2022.

Such purity of fruit to this wine with plum, currant and berry character. Solid core of fruit and fine tannins. Full and balanced. Very successful for the vintage. Better in 2017.

This wine is soft and round, with attractive acidity as well as a light sense of structure from tannins. It features considerable acidity along with wild strawberry flavors that keep it lifted and aromatic. Drink from...

(93–95 points) 93–95. Barrel sample. This firm, dry wine is solidly rich and full in the mouth. With fine acidity and black currant fruit that show through the tannins, it is a wine with considerable potential. ROGER VOSS

A great second wine for drinking now, this has lashings of damson fruit to back up the acidity. The tannins are not as intense as they would be in a great vintage but it's good quality, with polish and real appeal.

Aromas and flavors of tar, berries and dark chocolate. Full body, relatively firm tannins and a finish that fills the palate. Well done. Second wine of Lynch-Bages.

Dark and winey, with a grippy, brambly frame and a solid core of raspberry, black currant and boysenberry fruit. The backdrop reveals lots of anise, bay and black tea notes. Still backward, with an ironclad finish, this...

(WE94-96 points) Firmly tannic in character, this wine is dry and extracted. There’s potential for this powerful, impressive wine to bear the wine’s very dry character with the weight of its fruit.

(98+ points) Bottled under a black label to celebrate Pavie’s addition to the Grand Cru Classé “A” classification, the 2012 Chateau Pavie is a brilliant wine, and readers with bottles in their cellars are in for a treat...

A very pretty wine for the year, the 2012 d'Armailhac is plush, open and seductive. Dark red cherry, tobacco, wild herbs, smoke, leather and game are all pushed forward in a pliant, supple Pauillac that is already quite...

The 2012 Smith Haut Lafitte Rouge is medium to deep garnet-purple colored. It sashays out with flamboyant scents of boysenberries, blackberry preserves, and redcurrant jelly, plus hints of cardamom, cigar box, and...

The 2012 Grand Village, from the Guinaudeau family of Château Lafleur fame, is really lovely this year and one of the great bargains to be found in the vintage. As readers may recall, this is in reality a Lalande de...

(91+) When the rains were forecast to arrive on September 22nd, the team at Lafleur decided to pick all of the merlot vines destined for the grand vin on the single day of September 21st, but, there was not sufficient...

Seductive, rich flavours, far more creamy in its fruit expression than many of the top Left Banks in the 2012 vintage, and yet also higher in fresh acidities, giving a lovely push-and-pull contrast. Persistent, with sage...

Seductive, rich flavours, far more creamy in its fruit expression than many of the top Left Banks in the 2012 vintage, and yet also higher in fresh acidities, giving a lovely push-and-pull contrast. Persistent, with sage...

Medium-bodied, silky, energetic, bright style of Haut Bailly, with a lean to its lifted, red fruits, and a dash of cocoa in the finish. This is ready to go. Drink from 2023-2032.

Medium-bodied, silky, energetic, bright style of Haut Bailly, with a lean to its lifted, red fruits, and a dash of cocoa in the finish. This is ready to go. Drink from 2023-2032.

Showing the serious side of Lafite, this is big and dark, powered by tannins as much as fruit. The wood aging is still showing, although that will integrate into the great structure that holds up the ripe black currant...