Tight and concentrated, this is a very fine wine. Great acidity and great tannins go with the most intense fruit. Blackberry and black-cherry flavors power through this structured wine. There is also elegance and a fine sense of style. Drink from 2025.

From a parcel with 90-year-old vines near Fonroque. Only 300 cases. Perfumed nose of dark fruit, violet and spice. Lovely weight of fruit with finely edged tannins behind. Great persistence - long, minerally finish. Clear stamp of the limestone terroir. Read more at https://www.decanter.com/wine-reviews/france/bordeaux/les-asteries-st-emilion-grand-cru-bordeaux-france-2014-19241#KpxBkYLku0epZvhR.99

The 2014 Les Astéries has a more classically styled nose, quite reserved but there is plenty of fruit that should unfold over the next few years. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannin, very harmonious and lithe, the oak nicely integrated with a smooth and appealing finish. Excellent. This may well be as good as Jonathan Maltus's Le Dôme. Tasted blind at the annual Southwold tasting. -- Neal Martin

The 2014 Les Asteries has retained those complex aromatics that I remarked upon during primeur. Now in bottle, it offers red and black fruit: kirsch, cranberry jus, incense and potpourri aromas that are nicely defined, perhaps a little more opulent compared directly against the 2014 Le Carré. The palate is medium-bodied with supple red cherry and strawberry interlaced with orange rind and a light tang of Seville orange marmalade, finishing with a marine-influenced, quite lightly finish. - Neal Martin