Chateau Dalem 2019

JEB DUNNUCK: "Readers looking for a smoking deal in the vintage should grab bottles of the 2019 Château Dalem. This rich, medium to full-bodied, mouth-filling effort has lots of ripe darker cherry and blackberry fruit as well as tobacco, cedar pencil, and violet nuances. Rich, textured, balanced, and with a real sense of purity and class, it's ideal for enjoying over the coming 10-12, if not 15 years or so."

THE WINE CELLAR INSIDER: "Flowers, crushed rocks, smoke, licorice, cherry blossoms and dark red pit fruits are all over the nose and palate here. On the palate, the wine is even better due to all of its silky-textured, seductive, fresh, ripe, mineral-driven fruits. There is length, complexity and freshness with a finish that leaves you wanting more. This is one of the best values in Bordeaux. It is a purchase by the case wine that you can enjoy for 15 or more years with ease. This is probably the best vintage of Dalem I have ever tasted! Drink from 2022-2037."

JAMES SUCKLING: "Sweet plums and berries with some lavender undertones. Medium to full body. Plenty of fruit and ripe tannins. Crushed-stone undertones. Polished and sophisticated finish. Merlot. Very attractive already, but needs two or three years to come together."

DECANTER: "Bramble fruits with a touch of savoury herbs on the nose. Lively and fresh in the mouth bursting with red cherry and strawberry fruit alongside salinity that comes across as a minty fresh, almost spicy, lift all the way through. A linear, aerial style though still with plenty of fruit concentration. A lovely expression from Fronsac with plenty to like."

WINE SPECTATOR: "Sleek and taut, with chalky threads running along the edges of a core of fresh cherry puree and cassis notes. Features a subtle tobacco accent throughout, with nice cut through the finish. Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. Drink now through 2032. 7,000 cases made, 2,000 cases imported."

FALSTAFF: "Dunkles Rubingranat, opaker Kern, violette Reflexe, zarte Randaufhellung. Frische Kirschen, angenehmes Beerenkonfit, zart floral, dezente Kräuterwürze ist unterlegt. Mittlerer Körper, reife Kirschen, feine Fruchtsüße, gut eingebaute Tannine, verfügt über Frische und Länge, sicheres Entwicklungspotenzial."