(98-100 points) (Pomerol; 87% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc, 3% Cabernet Sauvignon; a final yield of 30 hl/ha; pH 3.66; 13.5% ABV; tasted with Marielle Cazeaux at La Conseillante). Immediately we are the realm of greatness. We have archetypal La Conseillante florality. This is very beautiful – with peony and violet, a little lily of the valley and a little rose petal. The floral notes really wrap themselves around the blueberries drawing out the glorious cedary notes. Haunting in its beauty. Calming. Intimate. I love the parfumier's essences of violets and rose petals reinforcing those first floral notes as the wine starts to inhale and relax in the glass. The is the first year of the integration of the Cabernet Sauvignon into the final blend and it reinforces the impression of the deep, dark core. Succulent, sumptuous, so gracious and very layered – somewhere between silk and cashmere. This has a lovely, ample frame and is the most bourguignon of the grand plateau Pomerols. Complete, brilliantly poised, and so juicy and fresh. A wine of an incredible harmony. I've not tasted a better La Conseillante and I honestly didn't expect to be writing that in this vintage. 98-100

Dark ruby garnet, opaque core, violet reflections, subtle edge brightening. Delicate floral nuances of candied violets, a hint of blackberries and sour cherries, some cloves, a hint of sour cherries and mandarin zest. Juicy, highly elegant, delicate extract sweetness, silky tannins, finesse-rich acidity, harmonious and already so well developed that one would like to start enjoying it immediately, great length, finesse and sure maturity potential. Fascinating.

(98-100 points) Violets, lilacs, and chocolate drizzles, followed by plums, black cherries, blue fruits, licorice, smoke, and truffles, create the aromatic profile. On the palate, the wine is pure silk, velvet, and cashmere, perfectly suited to the seemingly endless waves of sweet, bright, plush fruits, with their freshness, elegance, and stunning sense of purity. The finish lingers past the 60-second mark and keeps going long after the wine has gone where it needs to be. One of the keys to the success of the dry 2025 vintage began a few years in advance, with the addition of compost to the vineyards, aiding water retention, helping the fruit gain maturity, and increasing yields. The wine blends 87% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc, and 3% Cabernet Sauvignon along with 8% press wine. 13.5% ABV, 3.66 pH. The harvest took place from August 28 to September 17. Yields were 30 hectoliters per hectare. Drink from 2030 to 2065. Read more at:https://www.thewinecellarinsider.com/wine-tasting-note/?vintage=2025&wine=Chateau%20La%20Conseillante

(97-100 points) The 2025 La Conseillante is another brilliant wine in the making for this Pomerol reference point. Wafting from the glass with aromas of ripe mulberries and blackberries mingled with hints of violets and truffle, it's medium- to full-bodied, deep and unctuous, with lively acids, ultra-refined tannins and a long, floral finish. It's a blend of 87% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc and 3% Cabernet Sauvignon (from new plantings that already make it into the blend) that attained 13.5% alcohol. Fermentations were capped at 26 degrees Celsius, the coolest ever, to extract selectively, and the entire production is maturing in barriques this year.

(97-98 points) Complex already, with blackberry, blueberry, currant and mint aromas that follow through to a medium body with firm tannins and a savory, juicy finish with fresh herbs and an almost rose stem undertone. You can feel the grape skins. Very primary. 87% merlot, 10 cabernet franc and 3% cabernet sauvignon.

(96-98+ points) Brought up all in barrels with no amphora used in this vintage, the 2025 Château La Conseillante is an ultra-classic Conseillante with a very floral perfume of cassis, assorted red and blue fruits, violets, iris, lead pencil shavings, and graphite. It's medium to full-bodied on the palate, with a concentrated yet focused, juicy, lively mouthfeel, beautiful tannins, and a gorgeous finish. Checking in at 13.5% alcohol with a pH of 3.66, this beautiful Conseillante has the purity and balance to offer pleasure early on yet, like most vintages here, will need 7-8 years to hit its prime drinking plateau.

(96-98 points) Deep garnet-purple in color, the 2025 La Conseillante waltzes out of the glass with fragrant notes of peonies, black cherries, and juicy blueberries, leading to hints of licorice, dark chocolate, and menthol with wafts of cardamom and rose oil. The medium-bodied palate is very graceful and intense with lovely tension and fine-grained tannins supporting the shimmery black and blue fruit, finishing long and perfumed. Simply stunning! The blend is 87% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc, and 3% Cabernet Sauvignon.

(96-98 points) The 2025 La Conseillante is shaping up to be magnificent. Rich and luscious in the glass, the 2025 offers up an exotic melange of inky dark fruit, cloves, new leather, licorice and mocha. This is the first vintage that sees the return of Cabernet Sauvignon, historically a part of the blend from at least 1871 to 1956, when frost devastated many vineyards in Pomerol. The 2025 is impressively deep, but also quite vibrant. I can't wait to see how it ages. It's a superb effort from Technical Director Marielle Cazaux and her team. Cazaux made an immediate impact when she arrived in 2015, starting with a move to lower-intervention farming that was immediately apparent. I will have more to say about that and other related subjects in a separate article we will publish later in the year. Tasted two times. - Antonio Galloni

(96-98 points) A beautiful nose here, deliciously dark and concentrated, with bilberry, currant and dark chocolate, but there is also a pretty floral edge to it, with scents of violets and peony. It is surprisingly cool, mineral and defined on the palate, with dark currant and black fruits, set in a tense frame, with a rich backbone of generous, tightly grained tannins which butt up against the rather mineral fruit. There is freshness too, the perfumed floral elements increasingly apparent, the palate lifted by its acid backbone, all tightly packed through to the finish. A beautifully honed and yet structured La Conseillante, with a lively finish and polished length. The blend is 87% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc and 3% Cabernet Sauvignon, picking young Merlots from August 28th, old Merlots on September 2nd, young Cabernet Sauvignons on the 5th, and then Cabernet Francs on the 17th. The yield was 30 hl/ha, with 85% going into the first wine. The alcohol is reported to be 13.5%. 96-98/100

A really assured La Conseillante with exceptional balance and so much pleasure to offer. Fragrant aromas on the nose with floral aspects, violets, some savoury earthy notes, black chocolate, vanilla, cinnamon spice, blood orange and iron. Smooth and sapid with such vibrant energy straight away – quite tight tannins still, firm and streamlined but really delicate and precise. A grip of liquorice and flint on the finish means this ends cool, crisp and spiced. Really nuanced in flavours, a little darker and more complex in aromatics than La Conseillante can sometimes be, yet with such intensity and no heaviness. It would have been easy to make a more muscular wine but this is sleek and so defined. The team applied zinc oxide as sunscreen and used mulching to protect soil humidity. First time including Cabernet Sauvignon in the blend. 3.66pH. A yield of 30hl/ha. 85% grand vin (never reached this high before). Ageing in 70% new oak and 30% one-year-old barrels (no amphora this year).

Austere on the opening, takes a beat then shows a creamy character as it opens. In colour, like so many you will find a vivid ink, followed by traces of gourmet cocoa bean, damson, chalk, rose petal, slate and crayon. Clay and gravel soils here have been worked organically and biodynamically for many years, 70% new oak for ageing, 3.66ph. Overall harvest August 28 to September 17. 30hl/h yield. Marielle Cazeaux director. A clear contender for an upscore in bottle.