Chateau Margaux - Pavillon Blanc 2009

Wine Spectator: "This really sneaks up on you, with laserlike focus to the blanched macadamia nut, honeysuckle, white peach and creamed yellow apple fruit flavors. Very sleek and restrained, with a long, stone-framed finish that's as pure as freshly fallen snow. Best from 2013 through 2023."

Jancis Robinson: "Spicy, slightly stinky, catty nose. Rather more lift than in some recent vintages. Lanolin and richness but lots of lemon and grapefruit too. They are picking a bit earlier and not including the very ripest grapes because the alcohols were getting just a bit too high – sometimes over 15%. This was 'scary', they started reacting in 2008 but nature helped. Much reduced crop – see the video. Minerals and tension quite different from the old fat style. Very interesting. Should age longer. Perhaps less distinctive – more like a particularly refined Pessac-Léognan?"