Saint Julien

The 2018 La Réserve de Léoville-Barton is effusive and boisterous right out of the gate. The estate's second wine offers tons of immediacy, with scents of blueberry, pencil shavings, lavender and menthol op...(read more)

Lovely Langoa. Soft, supple attack. Nice easy strawberry and gentle plum fruit. Touch of mince-pie. Really attractive and easy style. Good rounded tannins and a lick of acidity give a more serious finish. Lovely for drin...(read more)

Branaire has done a great job here with their 2020. Owner François-Xavier Maroteaux explained, as we tasted over zoom, how wonderfully aromatic the Merlot was for them - unusual but very welcome - and it has worke...(read more)

The sunburn effect meant a loss of 20-25% of the Cabernet, so a lower proportion than they have been aiming for in recent years. 62% Cabernet 32% Merlot, 6% Petit Verdot. Rich, serious, full-bodied. Very dark expression,...(read more)

65 % Cabernet Sauvignon, 22% Merlot, 13% Cabernet Franc. 13.6%. Quiet nose. Quite tight and herbal. Palate is ample, cool Cabernet, round and with finesse and purity. Very classically structured. Very dense and bruising...(read more)

Classic, signature Langoa, evident sandalwood and cedar smoke on the nose, coupled with violet, peony and rose petals flowers, fresh acidites from juicy blackberry and raspberry fruits, still has plenty of grip that sugg...(read more)

Darker fruit profile that the Gloria (I'm guessing a much higher proportion of Cabernet here). Such deep fruit on the nose - a glorious layered richness from floral precision to juicy ripe blackberry. Supple and cool fre...(read more)

Jean-Michel Laporte (formerly of Conseillante) has now taken the reins here but he did not have input into this vintage. He has no plans to revolutionise things, just to make small, gradual changes like slowly increasing...(read more)

64% Cabernet Sauvignon, 27% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc, 6% Petit Verdot. Ruby rather than black, a breezy freshness - supple and lithe and elegant. There's a rose petal freshness and delicacy, but no lack of drive and pow...(read more)

75% Cabernet Sauvignon, 17% Merlot, 8% Petit Verdot. (The highest percentage of Petit Verdot for 10 years, it was preferred to the Merlot) Only 35% of the total from the property, after new manager/winemaker Matthieu Bor...(read more)

This has a solid core of cassis, blueberry confiture and plum sauce flavors, wrapped with warm ganache and licorice snap notes, kept honest by graphite rivets along the finish. This has lots of muscle, but stays lean and...(read more)

Deep colour, a healthy firm purple. Very pure, floral and fresh black fruit expressive nose. Sweet and taut, rounded with a sense of sucrosity. Tannins silky even if very present. The tannins levels are almost identical...(read more)