Weine

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."

James Suckling: A nicely structured, savory and textured Pomerol. The nose exhibits blueberries, mulberries, dark plums, dried violets, wet floor and mild spices. It’s medium- to full-bodied with fine, firm tannins. Plenty of graphite character on the palate with a seductive frame of berries and spices mingling harmoniously. Well-driven with a long, focused finish. From organically grown grapes. Drink after 2027."

Jeb Dunnuck: The flagship 2022 Château Rauzan-Ségla checks in as 72% Cabernet Sauvignon, 26% Merlot, and the balance Petit Verdot, all aged 18 months in 50% new French oak. It's much more focused and precise compared to the second wine and has brilliant aromatics of crème de cassis, crushed violets, graphite, and smoky oak. Gorgeously concentrated and full-bodied, with riveting purity and precision, this stunning Margaux has ripe yet building tannins, a terrific mid-palate, and flawless overall balance. I love it today yet 7-8 years of cellar are warranted and it will cruise over the following 3-4 decades in cold cellars. It's another sensational wine from this estate."

James Suckling: Very complex aromas of pears, persimmons, honey and cooked apples. Mineral undertones. Always subtle and multidimensional. Full-bodied with a tight and dense middle palate that gives a superb mouthfeel. It's lively and flavorful at the end but in a reserved way. Just a hint of bitter lemon and lilac. I really want to drink this, but give it three or four years to reach the right place."

James Suckling: An attractive Pomerol with fresh plums, spiced cherries and a touch of white pepper. Ripe, fresh and layered, with fine tannins and a very lengthy, fragrant finish. 85% merlot and 15% cabernet franc. Pure and already enjoyable. Drink or hold."

Jeb Dunnuck: Blackcurrants, graphite, crushed stone, and liquid violet notes all emerge from the 2022 Château Saint-Pierre (Saint-Julien), another deeply colored, powerful, full-bodied Saint-Julien. Coming from 80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Merlot, and the rest Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot, it has a layered, elegant mouthfeel, beautiful tannins, and a great finish. It's going to stand with the truly greats from not only this terroir but the entire Médoc."