Weine

Jeb Dunnuck: Awesome levels of blackcurrants, darker cherries, roasted herbs, chocolate, and scorched earth all emerge from the 2022 Château Malartic-Lagravière, an incredibly concentrated, rich, layered beauty that has velvety tannins, a deep, layered mid-palate, and a blockbuster finish. It's easily the finest I've tasted from this château and is a riveting 2022 that deserves 4-6 years in the cellar and will keep for two decades or more. The 2022 is based on 53% Cabernet Sauvignon, 43% Merlot, and the rest Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc, with the élevage spanning 20 months in 60% new French oak. There are a little over 8,000 cases of this brilliant wine."

Wine Enthusiast: The wine is dominated by fine Sauvignon Blanc. It has a marvelous poise between great freshness and richness, which is especially impressive given it's from a dry year. This is a powerful wine, a great success given the growing conditions."

The Wine Cellar Insider: If you liked 2018 Palmer, you are going to love the 2022! Produced in a similar style, the wine is ostentatious, flamboyant, and incredibly concentrated, yet it is also elegant, upbeat, and complex. The perfume is on the floral side with spices, and sweet, dark, with red berries. Also, like all the best vintages here, it is the texture that steals owns the show. The palate is pure silk, and velvet, making the perfect backdrop for its non-stop waves of sensuous fruit that start and keep on going, long after the wine has left the glass. The wine blends 51% Cabernet Sauvignon, 45% Merlot and 4% Petit Verdot. Drink from 2029-2065."

Jeb Dunnuck: A smoking Margaux with tons of character, the 2022 Château Marojallia showed beautifully. Ripe cherries, blueberries, spring flowers, and tobacco all make an appearance in the bouquet, and it hits the palate with a medium to full-bodied, concentrated, structured style that has everything in the right place. I don't see it being for the instant gratification crowd, but if you're able to hide these in the cellar for 4-6 years or so, you'll be a happy camper. I wouldn't be surprised to see this rival the 2009 when all is said and done."

Falstaff: Dunkles Rubingranat, opaker Kern, violette Reflexe, zarte Randaufhellung. Zarte Würze, Brombeerkonfit, tabakige Nuancen, feines Cassis ist unterlegt, Komplex, engmaschig, feine Kirschfrucht, gute Frische, reife, tragende Tannine, etwas Nougat, anhaltend, sicheres Entwicklungspotenzial, würde in jeder Blindverkostung glatt als Pauillac durchgehen, erst im Finish tauchen die Gewürznuancen von St. Julien auf."

The Wine Cellar Insider: The nose steals your focus with its showy display of truffles, cigar boxes, spices, black and blue fruits, and dried flowers. However, it is the palate that steals the show with its ostentatious, flamboyant, velvet, and cashmere-textured display of red and black fruits. The wine continues to build in intensity as it expands in every direction on your palate. The seamless finish lasts beyond the 60-second mark, inspiring you to take another sniff and sip to enjoy the pleasure you find again and again. This is a future legendary wine from Mouton Rothschild. The wine blends 92% Cabernet Sauvignon and 8% Merlot, with an ABV of 14%. Drink from 2030-2070."

Wine Enthusiast: From one of the many estates on the Pez plateau in the heart of Saint-Estèphe, this wine has a fine, dense structure, supported by tannins. It has a dark coffee aroma, layered black currant fruits and ripe acidity. Drink from at least 2028."

James Suckling: This is really perfumed with rose petals and citrus fruit. It's medium-bodied with brightness and fine tannins that caress the palate. Focused. Vivid. The second wine of Domaine de Chevalier. Drink after 2027."

James Suckling: Opulent and delicious with lots of green mango and pineapple aromas and flavors. Smoked cream and green apples. Showing salty, briny character, it’s dense but not heavy, flavorful and very long. Pear-drop candy at the end. Pure sauvignon blanc, as always. Rich yet lively and wonderful. Feels like a great Montrachet. One for the cellar. 8,000 bottles made. You just want to drink it. Drink or hold."

James Suckling: A rich, dark-fruited nose of blackberries, dark chocolate, vanilla and cedar. Some earthy notes, too. Medium- to full-bodied, this shows firm tannins with impressive depth and length. Firm, minerally finish. Drink from 2028."

Jeb Dunnuck: Deeper ruby-hued, the 2022 Château Rol Valentin checks in as 85% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc, and the balance Malbec, all of which spent 19 months in 40% new barrels. It's rock-solid stuff offering terrific notes of darker cherries, plums, spicy wood, and candied violet notes in a richer, medium to full-bodied, concentrated style. Made in a slightly more modern, well-oaked style, it's still pure Saint-Emilion goodness with notable minerality and ample character. Give bottles 4-5 years if you can and enjoy over the following 10-15 years."

The Wine Cellar Insider: There is no hotter wine from Pomerol than VCC today! And 2022 is a perfect example of why. Opaque in color, the nose explodes with its array of black, red, and blue fruits, dark chocolate, flowers, and truffles. There is so much intensity and concentration that it is hard to understand how everything remains perfectly balanced, as well as fresh. The sensuous, supple, and silky finish ends with a vibrancy to the fruits, a mild touch of salt, and a refreshing hint of mint on the back end. This future legend and candidate for wine of the vintage can age and evolve for decades. The wine blends 75% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Franc, and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon. Drink from 2028-2065."

Jane Anson: Skilful construction here, slate and pumice stone texture, with a clutch of wild roses, sage, bitter orange zest. Brambled autumnal fruits with a kiss of cloves, turmeric and baking spice reflecting the ripeness achieved within the vintage, harnessed to a sense of reserve and a foot on the break in the opulence of the vintage. Impressive, delivers on En Primeur promise. 32hl/h yield, 7.5ha. Axel Marchal consultant. 3.5ph. Harvest September 8 to 26. Peter Sisseck winemaker, co-owner with Silvio Denz. 35% new oak barrels for ageing, biodynamic certified."

Jeb Dunnuck: Looking at the Grand Vin, the 2022 Château Pavie is 52% Merlot, 30% Cabernet Franc, and 18% Cabernet Sauvignon raised in 75% new barrels for 20 months. It brings a more focused, precise style in its darker berries, graphite, crushed stone, and floral aromatics and flavors. These carry to a full-bodied Pavie with flawless overall balance, ultra-fine tannins, and a great finish. This pure, powerful, yet aristocratic Pavie will benefit from 7-8 years (you can drink it even today) and have 3-4 decades of longevity."

The Wine Cellar Insider: Flowers, black raspberries, smoke, licorice, spice, mint, cocoa, and plums open the gorgeous perfume. On the palate, the wine is opulent, sensuous, rich, deep, and full. Flamboyant and intense, the wine coats your palate, lingers, and expands seamlessly for nearly 60 seconds. The blend is 85% Merlot and 15% Cabernet Franc, 15% ABV. Harvesting took place from October 5 - October 15. Drink from 2028-2050."

Lisa Perrotti-Brown: I have long admired the wines of Nairac so it was disappointing when in some recent vintages there was to wine produced. Now managed by Grand Chais de France there is better consistency here, and the latest result is this rather fine 2022. I find the nose to be layered with honey-drizzled pear and quince, with a bright minerally edge which feels typical of Nairac. This is matched by a delightfully energetic and poised palate, with layers of citrus and orchard fruits, swirled in a sweet and waxy richness, with vibrant acid freshness. A top result with fine cellaring potential."

James Suckling: A linear and racy young Cotes de Bordeaux with blueberry, mineral and crushed-stone character. Violets as well. Medium-bodied, refined yet structured. Plenty of energy here. Persistent finish. 75% merlot, 20% cabernet franc and 5% cabernet sauvignon. Drink after 2028."

James Suckling: The nose is fragrant and inviting, offering subtle black and blue fruit, dried violets, sandalwood and stones. The medium-bodied palate shows a juicy core of fruit wrapped in dusty tannins, with a textural, lightly earthy finish. Better from 2027."

Falstaff: Tiefdunkles Rubingranat, tintig, opaker Kern, violette Reflexe, zartte Randaufhellung. Feine Edelholzwürze, vollreife Herzkirschen, Schokolade, tabakig, zarte Kräuterwürze. Kraftvoll, elegant, rotbeerige Nuancen, präsente, eingebundene Tannine, salzig-mineralisch im Abgang, Nugat im Nachhall, zeigt Länge und Entwicklungspotenzial, eine Kombination aus Power und Finesse."

Jeb Dunnuck: From clay and limestone soils, the 2022 Château Puyblanquet (80/20 Merlot and Cabernet Franc) is a powerful wine, offering darker cherries, earth, chocolate, and violets. Beautifully integrated oak, chalky minerality, and fine tannins all give it plenty of structure, and it should evolve nicely for 15+ years. Total production: 3,333 cases."