Saint Julien

71% Cabernet Sauvignon 25% Merlot 4% Cabernet Franc This second wine of Chateau Léoville Barton comes from young vines and plots that have not reached the high level of requirement to ente...(more info)

The initial impression is of a very strong sweet oakiness - rather new world in style. But the volume is there underneath and the dense fruit character of the wine shrugs off this coating and pow...(more info)

The owners of Branaire have one important aim with their wine-making, they want to create a recognisable house style which expresses fruit purity, freshness and finesse. This admirable wish is ac...(more info)

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...(more info)

A terrific Langoa (again), deep dense and rich with an expressive centre, lovely flavour all the way through. Structure is quite dense, woody, but the fruit and class carry it.

A yield of 47 hl/ha, 54% new wood. Sampled from a new barrel, but what comes through is the directness and purity of the fruit, on nose and attack, linear cassis and cherry, succulent and lovely....(more info)

This hit or miss château has turned in a very good performance in 1996. In addition to its dark purple colour, the wine offers sweet, ripe fruit, medium body, well-integrated tannin, and an...(more info)

Attack very pure, sweet fruit, building in power and intensity to a fine long elegant finish. Very savoury and harmonious. This is concentrated enough (in the same sense that Rolls Royce used to...(more info)

The Bories have sorted out their succession so that Bruno and his sister have taken control of Ducru, while Xavier, who has been running Ducru, Haut Batailley and Grand Puy Lacoste, has retained...(more info)

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