Pauillac

The 2012 Pibran has a ripe, forward, black cherry and raspberry bouquet, the Merlot component very expressive and lending vivacious allure to the aromatics. The palate is medium-bodied with slightly chewy tannins on the...(read more)

52% Merlot, 42% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Petit Verdot. Very dark, with a little spice in the round and smooth blackberry fruit. Some succulence and definition in the smooth volume which puts it ahead of some of the other l...(read more)

This must be the most harmonious and complete Grand Puy Lacoste shown at this stage (it can sometimes have a slightly herbal or medicinal greenness at the primeur tastings). None of that here - powerful, spicy, rich and...(read more)

This marks a better showing for Lynch Bages, this bottle retaining the austere, stoic facade but behind it more evidence of blueberry, iodine and violets. Good lift with an undercurrent of sous-bois. Very ripe entry, che...(read more)

Very deep colour, as one might expect, rich and fruit-cakey, dense and quite closed, but it has the fat and the richness. Intense, but like a plump cushion, the tannins civilised and stressing the finesse and the fatness...(read more)

Ripe just to the last possible point before being sweet. Complete and completely full, with complexity coming. Great depth - there are classical black depths of pencil-lead to plumb. A beautifully-structured, super wine....(read more)

Another unbelievably rich, multidimensional, broad-shouldered wine, with slightly more elegance and less weight than the powerhouse 1996, this gorgeously proportioned, medium to full-bodied, fabulously ripe, rich, cassis...(read more)

This is one of the great wines of the vintage, and certainly a candidate for one of the finest wines made at this estate under the management of Christian Seeley and proprietor AXA. Showing incredibly well at two tasting...(read more)