CHÂTEAU DURFORT VIVENS

Deep purple red. Riper fruit style than the Ferrière. Damson and black plum. Then surprisingly savoury on the palate, all a little unmeshed at the moment with the ripeness of fruit and the acidity as counterpoints but everything is there for long-term harmony. Chewy, charry tannins are dense but smoothed. The whole is generous and surprisingly supple even with this charge of tannins, then that ripe fruit comes back on the generous finish. Drinking range: 2025 - 2035 Rating: 16.5 Julia Harding MW, www.JancisRobinson.com (Apr 2019)

This is a crazy wine. Everything was done by hand, without electricity, because it was made in seven-hectoliter amphora. The grapes were hand-sorted. It’s full-bodied with tannins that are integrated so well into the wine, which gives it tension and freshness. Blackberries. Lavender. 10 hectoliters. Best Dufort ever? Rating: 96-97 James Suckling, www.jamessuckling.com (Apr 2019)

Another biodynamic estate that suffered low yields in 2018, clocking in at just 12hl/ha. But it has done a brilliant job with the remaining juice: all the winemaking was done in amphorae because the vats were too big for the small production, with 70% of the wine moved into new oak barrels after malolactic fermentation for ageing, the other 30% staying in the amphorae. It's hugely inky in colour, totally beautiful, with gourmet dark chocolate and damson notes that fill out the mid-palate. There's less Cabernet in the blend than usual but they have kept the elegance, with perhaps a touch more softness in overall texture than is usual in Durfort at this stage. The extremely fine tannins make this feel effortless and it doesn't suffer from the over-concentration that is always a risk at these yields. Drinking range: 2027 - 2042 Rating: 94 Jane Anson, Decanter (Mar 2019)