While the 2014 Château Peby Faugeres isn’t going to make you forget the 2015 (or 2009 and 2010), it’s a gorgeous wine in 2014 that’s more than worth your time and money. From tiny yields and the oldest Merlot vines of the estate planted on a mostly south facing hillside, this beauty offers sensational purity in its blackberries, smoked earth, espresso, spring flowers and pencil shavings aromas and flavors, as well as additional minerality with time in the glass. An inky colored, sexy, flamboyant 2014, it has full-bodied richness, polished, ripe tannin, impeccable balance, and a great finish. While it’s certainly a more modern styled wine, it has beautiful purity, notable freshness, only subtle oak, and a silky texture, and is, again, beautifully balanced. Don’t let anyone tell you it won’t age or doesn’t show its terroir. Give this terrific 2014 3-4 years of bottle age and enjoy over the following 15.

Ripe raspberry and blackberry pâte de fruit notes pump along here, picking up a dollop of ganache along the way. Has a long, flowing feel, with wonderful polish on the anise-infused finish. On the hedonist side but beautifully done. Drink now through 2030. — J.M.