Saint Julien

72% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot, 8% Cabernet Franc Intense purple color, this wine has a beautiful brightness. The nose is expressive and develops black fruit aromas, such as blackberry, and roasted notes. The structure is typical of St Julien wines, ample with a beautiful freshness and...(read more)

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 powers on with smooth dry Cabernet cassis and cherry on the finish. Massive. I like this but wish...(read more)

Not staggeringly deep in colour, but as usual this has an indefinably classy royal purple aspect. The nose is warm with the ripeness of black fruit and a deep cedary complexity. Sophisticated complex flavour to go with the dry velvet plush texture. Finish firm, grippy and long. A wine that...(read more)

Much dumber on the nose than Langoa, much more Cabernet in character. Thick and serious. Dense yet fresh in expression. Fruitcake, black fruit, spice, indivisible. Lovely dry structure filled with fruit, great intensity of flavour and length. Layered and full of interest as it unfolds on t...(read more)

Like the Fiefs, Cabernet dominates. Classic, tight and straight, but with a richness of texture and velvety feel, and still a considerable freshness of fruit. Really excellent, and the spice of wood that the carefully managed élevage at Lagrange will bring to it will undoubtedly do...(read more)

82% Cabernet Sauvignon, 18% Merlot. In contrast to the Grand Puy Lacoste in the same 'stable', Ducru is sweet to taste, round and ripe, all of one piece, tannins fine but very present giving a feel of volume, an impression of lots of dry extract. Lots of fruit too, complex mulberry and plu...(read more)

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 control of the other two. Ducru is a big, much chewier wine than usual, as are many in this vin...(read more)

The sharp-eyed will spot the trumpeting angels and the name 'Domaines Henri Martin' on the label that show that this is the second wine of Château Gloria. The heritage shows as this has a true Saint Julien silhouette, never overbearing, but still concentrated and intense, with saline...(read more)

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 enter in the Grand Vin. The wine is then aged between 16 and 18 months in French oak barrels. Inten...(read more)

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