The 2019 Malescot St. Exupery has a deep garnet-purple color. It is a little broody and subdued to start, opening out to notes of tar, fragrant earth, and crushed rocks, over a core of fresh blackcurrants and stewed...

(96+ points) The 2023 Brane-Cantenac is deep, bold and explosive, yet also closed in on itself. That won't be a problem in another few years' time, but today, the Grand Vin is embryonic. Time in the glass brings out...

The 2010 Brane-Cantenac marked the first year that optical sorting was used and the replanting of a parcel of Petit Verdot. This has long been a favourite vintage, the nose in a class of its own with mineral-driven black...

The 2020 Malescot Saint-Exupéry is oaky on the nose. At the moment, the wood occludes the fruit profile, but it will assimilate with time, and there is satisfying delineation. The palate is medium-bodied with a sweeter...

Much better than my previous tasting, ago, now you find a round, concentrated, blackberry, black currant, and black cherry-filled wine with nuances of green, leafy herbs, forest floor, tobacco leaf, and spice box notes in...

Concentrated but restrained with old school charm and an abundance of muscular tannins, it's easy to feel the heart of this wine, packed with liqourice, slate, black chocolate, cassis, brambled hedgerow, aniseed and...

Bright, full ruby-red. Aromas of blackberry, chocolate, cedar and violet. Sweet and rich but tight, with sound acidity accenting the wine's spicy intensity and extending its dark fruit flavors. A distinctly rich style of...

The 2015 Château Margaux, which comes in a quite stunning engraved bottle, has an equally stunning bouquet with blackberry, pencil box and light sous-bois scents, less minty than I noticed a few years ago. The palate has...

Supple, soft, and creamy, the floral-edged wine is loaded with elegant, polished, sweet, ripe, delicious fruits that flow across your palate with ease. This baby Brane is perfect to enjoy on release while waiting for the...

The 2023 Giscours is a potent, brooding wine. Black cherry, plum, new leather, dried herbs, chocolate and gravel infuse the palate with notable depth and intensity. This has really shut down post-bottling. Giscours is...

This is one to look out for, with softly extracted brambled fruits, traces of crème de cassis heat from the vintage conditions balanced by mandarin peel, pomegranate, lemongrass even, slate texture, very impressive 2015...

The 2021 Malescot St. Exupery has a deep garnet-purple color. It is quite closed to start, unfurling to reveal notes of black and red currants, boysenberries, and tar, followed by wafts of wild sage and pencil lead. The...

A brilliant wine with heart and personality. This captures so much Left Bank signature, as is often the case with Labégorce. Slate texture, grippy tannins that tug through the palate, holding tight to the brambled...

The 2023 Château d’Issan is certainly a significant step up from the Blason this vintage. It has a well-defined nose with predominantly red berry fruit (redcurrant and wild strawberry), with light rose petal scents...

The 2016 du Tertre has a medium to deep garnet color. It rolls out with expressive scents of black raspberries, warm cassis, and redcurrant jelly, plus hints of tobacco leaf and dried Provencal herbs. Light to...

The 1995 Palmer is a step up in quality over preceding vintages. This gorgeous bouquet has vibrant red fruit, rose petals and violet. A touch of melted road tar comes through with time. Classic Palmer. The palate is...

The 2020 Lascombes has a discrete, finely delineated bouquet that unfolds in the glass with blackberry, bilberry, crushed violet and a touch of iodine. The palate is medium-bodied with sour cherry and brown spices on the...

Black cherries, plums, flowers and a dollop of cocoa pop in the perfume. On the palate, the wine is supple creamy and fresh with a nice sweetness to the fruits, lift and a dusty, edged finish. Drink from 2025-2040.

This estate's second wine, the 1995 Pavillon du Chateau Margaux, may turn out to be one of the most delicious examples the property has made. The wine is forward, sexy, round, and generous, with gobs of black fruit and a...

A brilliant Siran, the 2023 Château Siran offers ripe, perfumed, incredibly complex aromatics of red and black fruits, spicy herbs/flowers, tobacco, and cedar pencil. Based on 49% Merlot, 41% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 10%...

Crème de cassis, graphite, flowers, and spicy wood all emerge from the 2023 Château Rauzan-Ségla, a truly brilliant Margaux that is particularly unique in the vintage due to a 30-40% loss of Merlot, resulting in an...

Deep purple-hued, the 2023 Château Margaux Pavillon Rouge offers gorgeous crème de cassis, spring flowers, graphite, and spicy wood-driven aromatics. It's medium to full-bodied on the palate, remarkably pure, and has...

The 2023 Alter Ego is soft, open-knit and floral, with exceptional balance and tons of class. Crushed flowers, bright red-toned fruit, blood orange, mint, chalk and white pepper are all beautifully lifted in the glass...

Always love going back to more classically balanced 2019 vintage after tasting an exuberant 2018, and it is no different here. Captures the gourmet pleasures and the lusciously seductive texture of Lascombes tannins...

(92-94 points) A serious, fruit-forward wine, the 2025 Château Malescot Saint Exupéry is showing a lot of oak at the moment, yet it still brings beautiful purity of fruit. Ripe red and black fruits, spicy oak, graphite...

The 2014 Prieuré-Lichine was one of the turn up for the books, surpassing all previous showings. It has a classy bouquet with vibrant red fruit, damp loam, cedar and freshly rolled tobacco aromas. This is almost...