Very pale green. Freshness of sea breeze on a clear day. Fantastic nose! Fresher than fresh and breathtakingly mineral. Sauvignon is identifiable as a flavour, but here it is just part of the expression and so pure. Palate continues the theme - total harmony and penetrating freshness in a medium body packed with flavour. Clearly so much more to come here. This is great. Very very long and linear, broadening only slightly in the middle. This is the best young Domaine de Chevalier I've tasted. 95

77% Cabernet Sauvignon, 33% Merlot. This wine opened the low-key but very impressive tasting at Chateau Calon Segur. Pretty red-fruited nose, quite bright and floral. Palate more serious lovely power and push at core. This is poised and classy stuff. Beautiful balance, recommended. 88

I tasted this twice, and on neither occsasion was it one of my stand-out favourites, as it has been in some recent vintages. Showing oak rather stongly, it has a glossy look and a supple mid-palate with dark fruit and a touch of fruitcakey overripeness. Round and plummy, I think it will get there. 89 - 91

Made by the Montrose team. 57% Merlot, 40% Cabernet Sauvignon, 2% Cabernet Franc, 1% Petit Verdot. 30-40% new wood. Proper claret nose. Silky supple and smooth. Fine black fruit nicely restrained crunch but not austere in anyway. On the palate some lovely high-toned spice, quite firm cherry-black and even blueberry fruit. Stays fresh and harmonious. 90

Quite a lightweight nose of bright redcurranty fruit. Brightness and purity continue on the attack and then the deeper darker more plummy, savoury core. This is nicely balanced.

Lively and fine. Juicy. There is real life to this. Lift and grace. Not grand perhaps, but a lovely 'fond' and should be a good drink within five years. Blackcurrant fruit trails the finish, which has a nice line. 91

Quite warm and rich on the nose, this follows through to the palate. A serious style though. Great power and long lines of quite glossy dark fruit, with some brighter, more tart blueberry notes tighten things up. Bright fine tannin. Overal quite good even if it does tail off a tad at the finish.

Plush and rounded, lively and winning with a good mid-palate feel and the quite evident oak is attractive rather than overpowering. 89

29% of the total production of the Montrose estate. 76% Merlot and 24% Cabernet Sauvignon. Meaty nose and then a suggestion of ripeness and weight to the fruit. A mild milk chocolatiness. There is lovely gloss to the dark cherry fruit on the attack. Then some hardness and real intensity a tightish, earthy core. Long and straight but this finishes nicely. 89

71% Cabernet Sauvignon, 29 % Merlot. 'Tender tannins' says Francois-Xaver, and it is true. Lots of volume and very jolly and likeable, perhaps lacking that last bit of drive. Velvety and long. 90

Really good this year. Real and expressive. Ripe Merlot, but not overripe - or nearly not. Movement and freshness. Rounded ripe and flowing. Alcohol shows a bit in the warmth of the finish.91+

I tasted the same sample as Tim Atkin, and we clearly both thought the same - it was a bit of a shocker, so it may be best to read others' notes which are uniformly full of praise.

Nicely scented nose, floral and cedary spice. Then on the palate there is lovely ripe, dark cherry fruit, super-poise. This is rich but not thick, just a lovely texture and weight kept in check by spice and some earthy minerality. 89 - 91

Seems less excessive than some recent vintages and likeable for that without ever quite becoming compelling. Good black fruit in the middle. 88

63% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 5% Petit Verdot, 2% Cabernet Franc. Noticeably the most purple-black colour at the Pessac-Léognan tasting. Almost pine-scented. Cool and fresh. Gorgeous classical dry palate: supple with superfine tannins. Very direct, buttoned-up, crunchy, austere even. I love this but it will require some patience. 93

Lively, spicy, this really has freshness. Good crunch of Cabernet fruit. Dries a little, but overall impression is of black density combined with very likeable focus, volume and lively buzz, the fruit clinging well on the finish. 92

&8% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot, 2% Petit Verdot. 13.5%. Harvested starting 1st October as opposed to 3rd September in 2011. Fantastic black fruit depth, mineral, salty, gourmand and appetising. No shortage of guts but has a sweet appeal too - very pure. 92

It seems we are more in Jancis' camp on our tasting of this than Mr Parker's. Despite the moment of rich, ripe cherry fruit in the mid palate there is something slightly one dimensional about this year's Beychevelle and after a jot of fun it finishes quite tarry and hard.

53% of the estate production. 57% Cabernet Sauvignon, 37% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Franc and 1% Petit Verdot. There's a deep dark tannic structure filled with minerals and fuit and building tannins. Black cherry, damson, a real sense of thick skins with fine ripe tannins. Hervé Berland says the skins were thick on the Merlot too, remarking that for him it is between the 2008 and 2010, but not as massive or as dry as the 2010 - more fleshy. 94

New director here - Nicolas Glumineau who was at Montrose. He was interesting about how the direction at Pichon is different to many Pauillacs. "Many properties are looking for more and more Cabernet, but for us there are great 'feminine' Merlots, which are an important part of Pichon Lalande. We have great terroirs for great Merlot." And yes, it is true that they do have Merlot planted on some very good terroirs, while many properties have relegated Merlot to the secondary, cooler, or later-ripening plots, as Merlot normally ripens earlier. Initially quiet nose, then spice, attack intense, there's a real core here, saline with fine tannins, nearly dries but the salinity gives appetising freshness. Tight and quite lean, pencil notes, the fruit more savoury than it is fruity. Sweet with blackcurrant tart notes even though the fruit is closed. It has the shape of a classic Pichon Comtesse of the eighties - a welcome return - supple and elegant but with underlying power.93+