CHÂTEAU TOUR SAINT CHRISTOPHE

So much black fruit, black walnuts, blueberries, wet earth, black truffles and some graphite. Medium to full body with lots of tension and focus. It runs very long with a salty undertone and some bitter, burnt lemon. Yet ever so subtle and refined. Drink after 2027. Drinking range: 2027 - Rating: 96 James Suckling, www.jamessuckling.com (Jan 2023)

From the same portfolio as Haut-Brisson, TSC always shows a deeper tone of fruit and more overt limestone freshness on the finish and so this makes it a more challenging and some might say a more fascinating wine. In 2020, I feel it has a slight edge over Haut-Brisson in both respects. There is ripe black fruit here with a lovely glossy appeal and it is long and dry with a wonderful lick of tannin on the finish. It will be a wine worth waiting for but you must be patient because the soils here imbue energy and traction on the palate and this must be allowed to melt away before you uncork a bottle. Rating: 17.5+ Matthew Jukes www.matthewjukes.com (Jun 2021)

Tour Saint Christophe just keeps getting better with each passing vintage. The 2020 is marked by vibrant red/purplish fruit, beams of minerality, sweet floral notes and a touch of savory intensity on the close. What impresses me most about the 2020 is the purity of flavors. The creamy, resonant finish is a thing of beauty. Drinking range: 2025 - 2050 Rating: 93-95+ Antonio Galloni, www.vinous.com (Jun 2021)

The 2020 Tour Saint Christophe was picked September 14–28, fermented without SO2 and matured in 40% new oak. My sample bottle was more reduced compared to its peers and required more aeration. Leaving it aside for 30–40 minutes, it unfolded to reveal a mélange of red and black fruit and hints of wild mint and boysenberry, all nicely focused, with floral top notes. The medium-bodied palate features sappy black fruit intermingling with orange peel and subtle marmalade notes. There is a core of sweet plummy fruit toward the finish, and a hint of brown sugar lingers on the aftertaste. This is a fine Saint-Émilion, but one where I hope to see a little more terroir expression on once in bottle. Drinking range: 2027 - 2045 Rating: 91-93 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (May 2021)

A wine I continue to buy in every vintage, the 2020 Château Tour Saint-Christophe looks to be another no-brainer for the Saint-Emilion lovers out there. Coming from a gorgeous, terraced vineyard on the eastern side of the appellation and based on 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Franc, it has a perfumed, elegant, pure style in its darker cherry and cassis fruits as well as classic cedarwood, earth, and forest floor aromatics. Medium to full-bodied, balanced, and just beautiful on the palate, with terrifically integrated acidity and tannins, it’s going to round into form nicely with just short-term bottle age and have two decades of prime drinking. This wine is still resting in 40% new French oak and has an alcohol of 14.7% with a pH of 3.6. Rating: 93-96 Jeb Dunnuck, www.jebdunnuck.com (May 2021)

Deep garnet-purple in color, the 2020 Tour Saint Christophe stampedes out of the glass with powerful scents of baked blackberries, stewed black plums and boysenberries, followed by suggestions of cedar chest, mocha, tar and fertile loam, with lifted wafts of licorice and cardamom. The full-bodied palate is rich and densely packed with juicy black fruits, supported by velvety tannins and fantastic freshness, finishing long and opulent.

In 2012, Hong Kong-based Peter Kwok purchased this vineyard located in Saint-Christophe-des-Bardes. The blend this year is 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Franc, aging in French oak barriques, 40% new. It has an alcohol of 14.7% and a pH of 3.6. Drinking range: 2024 - 2044 Rating: 93-95 Lisa Perrotti-Brown, RobertParker.com (May 2021)

Clean and precisely-spliced black fruits, austerity in the tannins and a mocha, grilled coffee bean edging through the finish. Good quality and well balanced, intense to the point of slightly bitter on the final moments. Drinking range: 2025 - 2040 Rating: 93 Jane Anson, Decanter (May 2021)