Spices, such as cloves and white pepper, with violets and dark fruit follow through to a full body with firm, chewy tannins and a polished yet intense finish. Open tannins. An ash-like undertone to it. Try after 2027.

The 2016 Gazin Rocquencourt is gorgeous, radiant and incredibly inviting, just as it was en primeur. Blackberry jam, chocolate, cloves, spice and new leather are all fused together, but it is the wine's textural depth and...

The 2012 Haut Bailly is brilliant and does nothing to damper my belief that this vintage is underrated in the market. Offering up a classic bouquet of tobacco leaf, cigar wrapper, blackcurrants, lead pencil, and graphite...

Suave, spicy oak and warm, stony aromas, making immediate interest and giving way to vivid and fresh dark cherries, blackberries and cassis. The palate adds graphite-like, savory cherry-stone flavors amid smooth, velvety...

Solid tannins mark this still very young wine. At the same time, the fruit is rich and well proportioned. Black currants dominate the fruity spectrum, giving the wine richness as well as great potential. Drink from 2025.

Another white that's aged nicely, the 2009 Château Malartic-Lagravière Blanc sports a medium gold hue as well as a spicy, complex nose of caramelized peach, orange blossom, honeyed toast, and a kiss of nuttiness...

A soft, silky wine with lots of plum, chocolate and minerals. Full body, silky and juicy. Round texture. Yummy. Drink or hold. 55% cabernet sauvignon and 45% merlot.

(94-95 points) A bright, salty white with dried-apple, lemon and hot-stone character. It’s full-bodied, yet vivid and tight with vibrant energy at the end.

91+ Tasted single blind at Southwold. This is a little simplistic on the nose with a touch of the old blackcurrant wine gums but fresh and lively. The palate has some dryness: austere and backward with compressed dusty...

(91-93 points) Very good full color. More discreet, brooding aromas of black cherry, leather and smoke, plus a faint burnt quality that characterizes this wine in the riper years. Lovely intensity and purity of fruit in...

(WE 96–98 points) This classic white wine reveals impressive potential as it unfolds. Along with its enveloping white fruits and crisp citrus it also has a wrought texture that will push it forward for the long term. -...

Not a lot of wines leave me speechless from start to finish. But this wine did! Still deep, dark, almost inky in color, the wine offers off the hook aromas of smoked truffle, cigar box, tobacco, black and dark red fruit...

The ripe layer of Sémillon in this wine gives richness, a creamed-apple character and plenty of aging potential. The second white wine of Domaine de Chevalier, it is ripe, wood aged and generous in fruitiness. Drink the...

This is a strong candidate for the best wine yet produced by the Cathiard family at Smith Haut Lafitte. The inky color lets you know this is going to be packed and stacked with layers of ripe fruit. But there is more...

Gorgeous nose of warm stones and dark fruits. Full body with a solid core of fruit and chewy tannins and a long and intense finish. Best ever. Best after 2016.

The 2019 Château Latour-Martillac Blanc is terrific, offering a rich, concentrated, yet bright and racy style that's going to age beautifully. Ripe lemon, honeyed grapefruit, chalky mineral, and some floral notes all...

(WA 96-98 points) A candidate for the title of wine of the vintage, the 2021 Haut-Brion unwinds in the glass with aromas of rich red and black fruit mingled with notions of cigar wrapper, licorice, black truffles, loamy...

Firm and closed, this is a wine with so much power and concentration. It also has beautiful fruit, smooth and opulent, that merges into the complex tannins and brooding, dark structure. It will take many years for this...

This is a powerful wine, made to age for a long time, from this estate which is performing in top gear. Complex tannins and dark fruits both make their presence felt. It has weight, ripeness and a dense structure. A great...

As to the Grand Vin 2019 Château Pape Clement, it reveals a dense purple hue to go with stunning aromatics of crème de cassis, graphite, lead pencils shavings, scorched earth, and tobacco. Beautifully balanced, with...

(WA 94-97 points) A brilliant and intensely individual wine, the 2021 Les Carmes Haut-Brion shows immense potential. Wafting from the glass with aromas of rich berries and plums mingled with notions of raw cocoa, loamy...

97+ Medium to deep garnet-purple colored, the 2017 Smith Haut Lafitte charges out of the gate with bold expressions of warm redcurrants, baked blackberries and crème de cassis with hints of spice cake, dried roses...

Young, full bodied, rich and intense, the wine is loaded with dark fruit, which you can easily see in its color. There is intensity, earthyness, smoke, licorice, espresso and black cherry from start to finish. The wine is...

Stunning concentration of perfectly ripe blackcurrants here with a delicate whiff of vanilla oak and extremely fine tannins that are almost perfectly integrated on the seductive and delicate palate, right through the...

The wine is powered both by its tannins and by its great fruit. Dark and dense both in the structure and the black-plum flavors, it is very fine wine– juicy and ripe. This is a serious wine with a great future. Drink from...

(93-94 points) Very spicy and intense with dark berries and sweet tobacco. Full and velvety. Very long and intense.

Intense blackberry and blueberry aromas as well as mushroom undertones. Violets, too. Sweet tobacco. Full-bodied and layered with polished tannins. Very long and beautiful. Give it two or three years to show what it has...

The Bonnie family's estate has produced a richly structured wine, full of the ripe tannins indicative of the vintage. To balance the structure, powerful flavors of black currant and dark berries give ripeness. It is a...

Deep and slightly spicy black cherries and blackberries with leafy nuances. The palate has a very pure, lively core of cassis. Full body and deep flavors of blue plums. Try from 2021.

The opaque bluish-purple 2012 Smith Haut Lafite offers up notes of licorice, graphite, blueberry and blackberry fruit, a medium to full-bodied mouthfeel, stunningly ripe, velvety tannins and a long, long finish. This is...