Saint Émilion 2023: Tasting notes

db’s Bordeaux correspondent Colin Hay gives his full tasting notes for the wines from Saint Émilion, following the publication of his report on the appellation.

Note di degustazione dettagliate

No. 3 d’Angelus (Saint Émilion; 85% Merlot; 10% Cabernet Fran; 5% Cabernet Sauvignon; from 9 hectares including the younger vines from Carillon d’Angelus; tasted at Angélus with Benjamin Laforêt, Hubert de Boüard and Stephanie de Boüard-Rivoal). Bright crunchy fruits and a little hint of walnut. This is made using a form of cold fermentation, more typically used for whites, to preserve the more gentle aromatic notes, above all the florality and the purity of the fruit. Fresh and crushed raspberries, very fresh and very pure. White flowers and a little raspberry blossom. Orange blossom. Blood orange. This is delicate but with a nice ample frame and a very crystalline mid-palate. Fresh and very pure with very gracious tannins. Silky and layered – like a scarf billowing in the breeze. Hyper fresh and pure. Very refined and elegant with a lovely lifted finish. 91-93+.

 

Angélus (Saint Émilion; 60% Merlot; 40% Cabernet Franc – mainly from old vines; tasted at Angélus with Benjamin Laforêt, Hubert de Boüard and Stephanie de Boüard-Rivoal). Introvert, yet floral. Peony. A little lily of the valley. Wisteria. Rose petal. Walnut oil.First press olive oil with its spicy pepperiness too. Red and black cherries, damsons, sloes, blackberries. Briary fruits. A slight hint of the cedar to come, but at first just the suggestion. Very refined, elegant and composed. Plunge pool soft and crystalline. The most subtle of the Angélus wines, at this nascent stage. The Cabernet Franc is the star here with its wild blueberry fruit and florality given the stage to perform and express themselves. Quite ample in the mouth, with lovely silky layers, glistening and pure, the Cabernet notes rising up through the surface from below. Aeration in the mouth releases the most beautiful cedar and damson fruit juice, bringing additional tension. Sapid, juicy, radiant and quite classical in a way. The fruit has a lovely crunch to it. A wine of great harmony and poise. Very long – with the length  sustained by the quality of the Cabernet fruit, the signature of Angélus. 96-98.

 

Annonce de Bélair-Monange (Saint Émilion; 98% Merlot; 2% Cabernet Franc; tasted at the property). Deeply impressive. Cassis. Pure, precise, fine-textured and with and intensity, concentration and density. A second wine to seek out in a vintage where that is rare. Close in style to the grand vin, with lovely poise, finesse and pixilated precision. 91-93.

 

L’Archange (St Emilion; 100% Merlot; from a tiny vineyard of just 1 hectare on sand with a clay subsoil; a final yield of 35 hl/ha; the consultant wine-maker here is Pascal Chatonnet; tasted at Haut-Chaigneau with Pascal Chatonnet). Nicely composed, not too broad but more dense and compact because of that. Glossy, limpid, generous and made to go the distance. Needs time for the oak to incorporate. Impressively substantial. 91-93.

 

Arômes de Pavie (Saint Émilion; 50% Merlot; 50% Cabernet Franc; a final yield of 34 hl/ha; pH 3.65; 14.5% alcohol; tasted at Pavie with Olivier Gailly). Very pretty. The Cabernet Franc is given the space to express itself and it has quite a bit to say for itself! Iris. Struck match. Incense. Black cherry and bramble. Candlewax. An impressively intense mouthful of plump and plush crunchy berry fruits. Well-structured and considerable. Very Côte de Pavie: dark and compact at the core, spherical in the mouth and with lots of energy – more than there used to be. Grainy tannins indicate a long life ahead. A lovely return to the terroir here with quite a lot of old vines making their way into this. Puissant, yes, but sleek and stylish too – and highly expressive of the values of the grand vin. 93-95.

 

Ausone (Saint Émilion; 60% Cabernet Franc; 40% Merlot; tasted at Ausone with Alain Vauthier; certified organic). Quietly spoken and introvert at first, but what it does reveal is utterly beautiful and all the more beguiling for being rather sotto voce. Graphite, cedar, and with lots of Cabernet Franc in evidence – that cedar and blueberry co-presence, a little thyme, more and more graphite and walnut with aeration and the black cherry notes coming through underneath all of that, bringing an aromatic sense of layering. Pot pourri and dried rose petals reveal themselves with more coaxing of the glass. The oak is still a little present, especially in the empty glass, but it only needs time. In the mouth, this is wonderfully gracious and svelte. Cool at first, as if the hyper-soft tannins refresh the palate and relax it to let in the dark fresh berry and stone fruit. Cherries and damsons, a little blueberry and bramble. There’s great density and compactness despite the breath and amplitude. This pushes out the cheeks, just a little, the tannins colleting at the front of the mouth. And there’s a brilliant grip and pinch just before the fantail finish, which is incredibly precise and lifted. Calm tranquillity. A timeless wine that it is a privilege to taste. 96-98+.

 

Badette (St Emilion; 67% Merlot; 30% Cabernet Franc; 3% Cabernet Sauvignon; a final yield of 45 hl/ha; 15% alcohol; tasted at the Association des Grands Crus Classés at Dassault). A new addition to the ranks of the Grands Crus Classés and a few subtle changes to the label in this vintage too. Earthy, with dark berry fruits, crushed black peppercorns and a little gentle sweet spicing. Graphite, just a hint of acacia. Liquorice. The oak is not yet fully integrated, but I find this rather attractively seasoned. Plump, with quite a tight structure, quite densely charged with fruit for the vintage. Though this lacks the complexity and delineation of the finest, it is certainly well-made and well managed, the tannins soft-grained if a little chewy on the finish. One of the few to reach 15 degrees of alcohol, and you sense it a little on the finish. 89-91.

 

Balestard La Tonnelle (Saint Émilion; 57% Merlot; 35% Cabernet Sauvignon; 8% Cabernet Franc; a final yield of 36 hl/ha; tasted at both La Dominique and at Dassault; certified organic). An attractive red and darker berry fruit profile, a little bit of toast and sweet spicing from the oak. Quite open-textured and certainly not pushed in terms of the extractions, allowing a delicate bright florality to emerge with aeration. On the palate this is nicely formed with a well-defined central core quite richly charged with fruit. Not especially long nor terribly complex, but well-managed and nicely balanced. 89-91.

 

Beauséjour (Saint Émilion; 70% Merlot; 30% Cabernet Franc; 60% new oak; a final yield of 46 hl/ha; 14% alcohol; tasted twice, the first time at Belgrave and then at Beauséjour with Joséphine Duffau-Lagarrosse, with practically identical notes; Axel Marchal and Julien Viaud co-consult and an entirely new wine-making facility, offering yet more precision, will be in place for the 2024 vintage). Cool and shimmering, with a fabulous energy and vivacity. Graphite, a hint of cedar, blueberry and black pen ink, a little pencil-shaving note, some incense and parfumier’s extracts of rose, peony and violet. Walnut oil. Dense and compact, with a lovely broad frame and the most gracious but also pixilating of calcaire tannins entering between and, in so doing, delineating the milles feuilles of silk and cashmere that seem interlayered and interwoven. So gracious. And with such finesse. More delicate and refined than the 2022 and at least as impressive. I love the shape of this in the mouth: the tannins somehow outlining the lozenge-shaped parameters of a black hole with the density increasing exponentially towards the centre – a kind of vanishing point, just like that to which the wine tapers on the seemingly never ending finish. It’s beautifully composed with a tight, densely charged core. The top terroir is presented with such eloquence, respect and articulation. Succulent, salivating, sapid and fabulously refreshing. 98-100.

 

Beau-Séjour Bécot (Saint Émilion; 77% Merlot; 23% Cabernet Franc; a final yield of 39 hl/ha with the old vines; aging in oak barrels, 55% of which are new; tasted at Beau-Séjour Bécot with Jean de Cournuaud; the first vintage to be vinified in the new chai, serendipitously received just a few days before the harvest began). Beautifully dark berried and highly pixilated in its detail. Raspberry, blueberry, mulberry. Graphite. Pencil-shaving. Violet. On the palate we find violet-encased black cherry and blueberry – with a vivid sense of the texture of the whole berries and the skin of the cherry. Polished, silky but with great compactness and density in the mid-palate. Very spherical and with a gracious long tapering descent towards the distant horizon. Asymptotic! A deeply impressive wine. So fresh and clean and focussed, with a lovely structural pinch before the fantail, sculpted by the crumbly limestone tannins. I love the florality here and the sense of it being fully interwoven with the fruit across the palate. Indeed, it has me craving a re-tasting in 10 years’ time of this alongside Clos Fourtet – both extremely gracious but very differently formed, each highly floral and each brilliantly expressive of its limestone terroir. 96-98.

 

Bélair-Monange (Saint Émilion; 98% Merlot; 2% Cabernet Franc; a final yield of 45 hl/ha, with 55% of the production making the selection for the grand vin; aging in oak barrels, 50% of them new; tasted at the property). Brilliant. After tasting Annonce, with a very similar fruit signature, one is especially struck by the florality of the grand vin – and grand it is. Radiant peonies, crushed pink rose petals, a little violet – just lovely. So fine, so pure, so measured, so elegant and poised. Silk interwoven with cashmere and with such fine pixilation. Dark cherries and plump loganberries and mulberries. Graphite and an early trace of the cedar that will coarse through this as it ages in bottle. Crushed petals and assorted parfumiers’ essences are picked up, again, on the palate. Such a subtle and elegant wine, full of refinement – rare in the vintage. A wonderful natural balance and harmony. The best of the Moueix wines and very much now at the pinnacle of the appellation. A sublime combination of salinity and sapidity on the finish. What grace in depth. 96-98+.

 

Bellefont-Belcier (St Emilion; 72% Merlot; 18% Cabernet Franc; 10% Cabernet Sauvignon; a final yield of 45 hl/ha; 14.5% alcohol; from 14 hectares on clay-limestone and Molasses de Fronsadais; tasted at the Association des Grands Crus Classés at Dassault and then at the property with Emmanuelle Fulchi and Jean-Christophe Meyrou; as at all of the Vignobles K estates, there were essentially no losses here to mildew). Wow! Lovely and highly expressive aromatically. I find this incredibly exuberant in its florality – lifted notes of hyacinth, peony and gladiola, saffron too. A touch of first press olive oil with all its pepperiness. This is spicy, with a touch of cinnamon and nutmeg. Gamey too, with almost a lièvre à la royale rich meatiness to it. Super-svelte, mirror pool cool at the centre and crystalline, but with excellent Côte de Pavie density and compactness. This is truly excellent for the vintage and one really feels the sharpened attention to detail. Fantastic and the best I’ve ever tasted from here. A veritable coup de coeur. 94-96+.

 

Berliquet (St Emilion; 59% Merlot; 41% Cabernet Franc; a final yield of 45 hl/ha; pH 3.53; 14% alcohol; tasted first at the UGCB press tasting at the Cité du Vin and then at Canon – last wine tasted on a long day and it shone). The first vintage vinified in the new vat room, with 15 smaller vats replacing the 9 larger vats of the past. That helps explain the gain in precision here. We are now very close to Canon in qualitative terms. The character of the two terroirs are, however, very different (with the combination of plateau and côteaux here giving this an additional sense of vertical depth). Floral, aromatically just a little closed and intimate but one is immediately enticed. A gorgeous cedar builds with very little aeration. More gravitas, in fact, than Canon but with much the same fruit intensity. More earthy rather than chalky. The Cabernet Franc signature is so gentle and gracious. Beguiling. Violets. Irises. Lavender and rosemary. Supple and plump on the palate but quite delicate which allows the Cabernet Franc to really express itself. Glorious calcaire tannins gently sculpt this and release too that signature limestone salinity. Excellent in a very delicate and elegant way. Lovely cool harmony, with lots of menthol. Exciting. The best ever from here. Another coup de Coeur (this part of the alphabet in Saint Émilion seems incredibly strong this year!). 95-97.

 

Boutisse (St Emilion; 14.5% alcohol; tasted at the Association des Grands Crus Classés at Dassault). A new addition to the ranks of the Grands Crus Classés – and a very welcome one at that. A lovely wine once again from Boutisse. This has a succulent, plump and juicy berry and stone fruit – sloes, damson, mulberry and bramble. There’s a fair amount of tannin here, but those tannins are very refined and polished, the mid-palate packed with fruit. In short, this is a wine that has what it takes to go the distance, but it’s already delightfully accessible, due to the elegance and definition of the fruit and the vivid sense of dynamism and energy it imparts to the mid-palate. Silky, elegant and with plenty of guile. 92-94.

 

Cadet Bon (St Emilion; tasted at the Association des Grands Crus Classés at Dassault). Another new addition to the ranks of the Grands Crus Classés if not a wine I know very well. Floral, with a little hyacinth note, saffron too, crunchy red and darker berry fruits – raspberry and redcurrant, a little cassis and bramble. Also a little bell pepper. The acidity is, however, quite pronounced, though it reveals itself more on the very fresh attack than on the finish. The tannins are crumbly but shade a little towards the dry side. 88-90.

 

Calicem (Saint Émilion; 100% Merlot; the 8^th production of this wine from a single parcel adjoining Angélus and Beauséjour, this has a very consistent personality now; Thomas Duclos consults here; a final yield of c. 30 hl/ha from vines of around 60 years of age; vinified in 500 litres new oak barrel from 4 tonnellerie and with pigeage à la main; pH 3.65; 14% alcohol; tasted at Couvent des Jacobins with Xavier Jean). Shimmering and pure aromatically, with a very pure blend of red and darker berry fruits, the pleasing ripeness imparting a gentle natural sweetness that is not surprising when you consider where the parcel is located. Peony. Walnut oil. Cassis and raspberry, a little stone fruit with more aeration. This has a lovely compact frame, beautifully-filled with plump and plush berry fruits, nice pixilation and a gentle structure, the calcaire tannins gathering on the finish to give this a delightfully powdery chalky finale. Glossy. Long and quite lifted. Pure, precise and very well-made. Succulent. One of the strongest monocépage wines of the appellation. 94-96.

 

De Candale (Saint Émilion). Fuller and richer than Roc de Candale, the fruit a shade darker and more predominantly berry rather than stone in character – though there’s a little damson to go with the mulberries and brambles. Pleasingly impactful on the attack and fresh without ever hinting at astringency, I like this, even if it’s one of those wines whose linearity and precision perhaps also exposes a certain lack of complexity. But it’s very well made. 89-91.

 

Canon (Saint Émilion; 71% Merlot; 29% Cabernet Franc; a final yield of 45 hl/ha; pH 3.42; 14% alcohol; tasted at the UGC press tasting at the Cité du Vin and then at Canon itself). Sublimely Canon! Dark, rich, cool, composed, calming, intimate, almost a little like entering a dark chapel from the summer sunshine and then focusing in on the details of the stained glass. Pixilated – in colour. Strikingly sharp-focused, with the sensation of that coming from the extra detail and definition afforded by the powdery limestone/chalky tannins. Graphite and black berry and, above all, stone fruits, with a lovely gracious Cabernet leafiness. Sumptuous and sinuous, with just the right amount of fruit concentration to allow this to weave its magical path over the palate. Less substantial than recent vintages but a lovely expression of the vintage. Finely seasoned, above all with limestone fleur de sel! 96-98.

 

Canon La Gaffelière (Saint Émilion; 35% Merlot; 45% Cabernet Franc; 20% Cabernet Sauvignon; a final yield of 35 hl/ha; aging in oak barrels, just 40 % of which are new; 13% alcohol; tasted with Stephane and Ludovic von Neipperg at the property on the Saturday following en primeur week just before a substantial hail storm was broken up by Saint Émilion’s new canon defence system, rather impressively unleashed from Ludovic’s mobile phone!). The most beautiful nose. Cedar. Graphite. Violet and Parma violets. Crushed rose petals over dark black cherry and damson. Green tea and macha. Quite enticing and yet actually quite opulent for the vintage. A radiant cedar note too, that builds in the glass. Quite open-textured and with a little less depth and density than the nose leads you to anticipate. Fluid and sinuous. I love this style – a delicate balancing act between the breadth of frame to give to the Cabernet the space to express itself and the extraction to give this substance and ageability. A wine that really open and builds in the glass. Very fresh, vivid, energetic and stylish. 93-95+.

 

Carillon D’Angélus (Saint Émilion; 90% Merlot; 10% Cabernet Franc; ; tasted at Angélus with Benjamin Laforêt, Hubert de Boüard and Stephanie de Boüard-Rivoal). White and rose peppercorns, gently crushed, a little nutmeg and cinnamon, wild herbs, red, white and black currant with some of their leafiness, red cherries and a little Griotte cherry too. The limestone tannins frame and sculpt the wine giving this a lovely structure that imparts great depth and concentration. Vivid and intense. The Cabernet really dances in the space given to it by the frame set by the interaction between the Merlot and the tannins. Menthol on the finish. Impressively pure and with no sensation of oak. So succulent and juicy, sapid and fresh. A red wine made like a white and with all of the natural energy and tension that one finds in the best whites of the vintage. 93-95.

 

Cap de Mourlin (Saint Émilion; tasted at the Association des Grands Crus Classés at Dassault). Aromatically explosive and in a very vertical way. Fireworks, cordite, oak smoke, crushed red and black cherries, brambles too. Big, rich, quite sweet-spiced and the oak as yet not fully integrated – it actually serves to underscore and draw out quite nicely a gentle florality. On the palate this is soft on the entry, quite dense and compact, but maybe lacks a little delineation. The tannins are a shade dry on the finish. Quite ‘old school modern’ if you know what I mean, but charming in its way. 91-93.

 

Chapelle d’Ausone (Saint Émilion; 60% Cabernet Franc; 35% Merlot; 5% Cabernet Sauvignon; tasted at Ausone with Alain Vauthier; certified organic). Lots of graphite, a little cedar, but quite closed when tasted in the chai at Ausone under partially grey skies half-way through en primeur week. White pepper. Walnut. Black cherries and blueberries. Mulberries. A fair bit of acidity but this is nicely incorporated and well-distributed along the well-defined and limestone-chiselled spine. Tender. Substantial. The most gracious tannins, especially considering their volume. Lots of pepper and a crushed rock salt salinity, bringing liquorice notes to the finish. Like some of the other wines in the Vauthier line-up, this is not as effusive, expressive or accessible as the 2022, but it’s just as good. It needs time and will reward patience. 94-96.

 

Chauvin (St Emilion; tasted at the Association des Grands Crus Classés at Dassault). A lovely quite distinct aromatic profile, very bright and energetic and exuberant, quite lifted and elegant but light on its feet, as it were. Dark berry fruits, a little loganberry – with its additional acidity and freshness – and Griotte cherry. White peppercorns. Almost a hint of mimosa. On the palate this has quite a narrow frame. A delicate and subtle wine with less flesh and substance than many, but that is more than compensated for by copious energy and a very crunchy fruit profile. Finishes on cassis and grape skin. 90-92+.

 

Le Châtelet (St Emilion; 80% Merlot; 20% Cabernet Franc; tasted at the Association des Grands Crus Classés at Dassault). Quite nutty, subtle, lithe and limpid, very fresh and pure, fluid and engaging. Not massive at all, but nicely layered. This is elegant – indeed, almost ethereal. Light, but light on its feet too with a nice trace of liquorice on the finish. 90-92.

 

Cheval Blanc (Saint Émilion; 52% Merlot; 46% Cabernet Franc; 2% Cabernet Sauvignon; 13.6% alcohol; tasted at Cheval Blanc with Pierre-Olivier Cloüet; whilst there was significant mildew pressure here, the generosity and evenness of the flowering permitted a final yield of 40 hl/ha, the source of the natural balance in the wine according to Pierre-Olivier). Gosh, this is fabulous. More cedar still than Petit Cheval. Very Cabernet Franc in its aromatics. Vertical, explosive aromatically, but gorgeous with it. When the cedar calms, it’s the graphite that sours and it seems to bring with it the fruit. Bramble, blueberry, blackberry, black cherry, damson, mulberry. A little blood orange. On the palate, this is so fantastic texturally. Silk layers unlike the more velvety Petit Chevel, but with even more depth, so we have a sort of incalculable milles feuilles sensation. Just gorgeous texturally. A cascade of layers like the descent of a spiral staircase into the cool dark depths of the cave below. So Gracious and complete. Staggering in its mouth feel. Chocolate. Violet and lavender. Aniseed. Black peppercorns and that cool finish of Szechuan peppercorns and a touch of menthol. Incredibly ethereal and fantastically lifted on the (two minute plus) finish. Utterly brilliant and a complete triumph. 98-100.

 

Clos Cantenac (Saint Émilion; 100% Merlot; 14% alcohol). This has a very ‘crunchy’ berry fruit – damsons and assorted dark berry fruit, just on the right side of maturity, but with quite a pronounced acidity nonetheless. It is very well made when placed in the context of the vintage’s challenges. Linear, precise and well-chiselled. But the elevated acidity reinforces its slightly strict character. 89-91.

 

Clos Dubreuil (St Emilion; 60% Merlot; 35% Cabernet Franc; 5% Cabernet Sauvignon; tasted at the Association des Grands Crus Classés at Dassault; certified organic). Newly classified and richly deserving of it. Oaky in the context of the St Emilion Grand Cru Classé line-up, but that’s not exactly a surprise as this is very true to the style it has crafted over a number of vintages. Vanilla pod, black cherry, rose petals, marzipan and frangipane, white almonds too. Cool, deep, dark and quite sensuous on the palate, the oak actually much less evident here. Crystalline and pure and with a very fine-grained if still recognisably crumbly limestone tannin (just as it should have). This expresses its fine terroir (just above de Millery and below Croix de Labrie) very well and will do so even more once the oak is fully integrated (but there’s enough substance to ensure that’s just a matter of time). 91-93+.

 

Clos Fourtet (Saint Émilion; 87% Merlot; 7% Cabernet Franc; 6% Cabernet Sauvignon; a final yield of 46 hl/ha; pH 3.54; 14.5% alcohol; tasted with Matthieu Cuvelier at the property; made from whole berries with pigeage à la main). Gorgeous, even more so when tasted at the property. So elegant and floral, so pure and lifted aromatically. Restrained and tranquil. Enticing yet intimate. Introspective. A cornucopia of pounded fresh petals – above all, assorted rose petals. So gracious aromatically. Dark berry fruits all perfectly ripe and beautifully formed – a still life painting, highly pixilated with each hair of the raspberry so detailed. A little graphite, with a hint of the cedar to come. Incredibly soft and delicate tannins. Quite a broad frame. Saline and glistening, limpid and aerial. Some might want more fruit concentration (it’s there if you look for it, but it’s not in your face), but I find this a beautiful expression of the vintage that is deceptive in its beguiling aerial quality and its restrained power. Very tense. Really structured by the limestone tannins. The maturity arrived quite early here (third earliest harvest in recent decades). Profoundly expressive of its terroir and in its singular style (which here reminds me of the 2001 and 2004 in its harmony and completeness). A brilliant vintage for Clos Fourtet and such an eloquent homage to its terroir. 95-97+.

 

Clos La Gaffelière (Saint Émilion; 85% Merlot; 15% Cabernet Franc; plot by plot management and vinification in its own separate cellar; 130,000 bottles produced; tasted at La Gaffelière with Thomas Soubes). Limpid, fresh, glistening and viscous, with a lovely sense of balance and harmony. Cassis and bramble fruits. A pleasingly fresh mouthful, decent density and superb sapidity. Unpretentious but sophisticated. 90-92+.

 

Clos des Jacobins (Saint Émilion; 80% Merlot; 18% Cabernet Franc; 2% Cabernet Sauvignon; a final yield of 40 hl/ha; 15% alcohol; tasted twice, the second time at the Association des Grands Crus Classés at Dassault). A succulent and sumptuous nose of dark cherries, kirsch, dark chocolate ganache with maybe a hint of violet, peony too; there’s a fair bit of oak here, but it’s already well integrated. Plump and plush on the attack, with a lovely billowy feel to the soft and almost cuddly mid-palate. Opulent for the vintage, with a nice hint of the cedar that will come through with élévage and subsequent bottling aging. A success in the context of the vintage and a fine wine from Clos des Jacobins. 92-94.

 

Clos de L’Oratoire (Saint Émilion; situated next to Dassault; 75% Merlot; 25% Cabernet Franc; a final yield of 44 hl/ha; 13.5% alcohol; tasted with Stephane and Ludovic von Neipperg at Canon La Gaffelière). Delicate, floral, with a little lily and lilac and a very dark but subtle and refined berry fruit – black berry and mulberry. Cedar. A little leafy thyme and oregano too. A wine of grace and charm, with a sense of profundity coming from the Cabernet Franc. Lovely balance and harmony. Likely to represent excellent value. 92-94.

 

Clos de Sarpe (St Emilion; tasted at the Association des Grands Crus Classés at Dassault; certified organic). This is very beautiful aromatically, with a gloriously and perhaps unusually floral profile – saffron and peony, lily of the valley and then the dark berry fruit, nicely crunchy and well-defined. The terroir, previously rather hidden in a veneer of oak, shines here these days, thanks to the respect for its shown by Maylis Mercenat. It does so very much in this vintage. Fresh and bright on the palate too, this evolves seamlessly and feels both crystalline and dynamic in the mouth. I like this very much. 93-95.

 

Clos St Martin (Saint Émilion; 80% Merlot; 15% Cabernet Franc; 5% Cabernet Sauvignon; a final yield of 44 hl/ha; 14.5% alcohol; tasted twice, the second time at the Association des Grands Crus Classés at Dassault). One of the most floral of wines aromatically at the Association des Grands Crus Classés tasting at Dassault. Distinct in its personality and distinctly engaging and gracious aromatically. Lily of the valley. Rose petals too. A dark stone fruit profile. Enticing. Full, quite plump, with a lovely open, sinuous and crystalline texture despite the density. Chewy towards the finish with crumbly calcaire tannins. Impressive. Quite considerable but with nice restraint and less evident oak than used to be the case. Purity rather than complexity perhaps, but lovely in its limpidity and sapidity. 92-94+.

 

Clos St Julien (Saint Émilion; tasted at the Association des Grands Crus Classés at Dassault; the smallest of the Grands Crus Classés of Saint Émilion now that it is classified, it being just a row or two of vines smaller than Sophie Fourçade’s Clos St Martin). Rose petals, petunias and wisteria, dark black cherry flesh and black raspberry. Quite granular in its tannic structure and dense and charged with fruit, this is soft at the core but a little angular around the extremities. But promising. A vin de garde but with a lovely limestone terroir signature. 91-93.

 

La Closerie de Fourtet (St Emilion; 85% Merlot; 15% Cabernet Franc; a final yield of 46 hl/ha; 14% alcohol; tasted with Matthieu Cuvelier at the property). The second wine of Clos Fourtet. Slightly closed at first but pretty and floral, with that prominent, very Clos Fourtet, note of cedar. Blueberries. Peonies. Black cherry. There is more clay with the limestone here, so this is vinified apart. Very dominated in its character by the young Cabernet Franc (a massal selection from the grand vin Cabernet Franc) on limestone that will ultimately end up in the grand vin. Plump and precise, delicate, elegant and refined. A model in miniature of the grand vin – very much more so than it used to be (when it was a monocépage Merlot). Very linear and incredibly pure and clean on the finish. Rapier-like. 91-93+.

 

La Clotte (Saint Émilion; 85% Merlot; 15% Cabernet Franc; tasted at Ausone with Alain Vauthier). Intense. Blackcurrant, with just a little cedar. Lovely cassis notes with aeration, wild blueberry and black berry. Quite briary, with a distinct herbal note too. Cherries enter the frame with aeration … And what a frame! Vertically structured with layers of silk and velvet – a little more of the latter, perhaps – nicely interspersed with the calcaire tannins entering between the layers and penetrating just a touch from the exterior. The tannic volume is considerable and in 2023 this is very much a vin de garde. Impressive, but less accessible today than it will be with a decade’s bottle age. 93-95.

 

La Commanderie (Saint Émilion; 75% Merlot; 25% Cabernet Franc; 15% alcohol; tasted twice, the second time at the Association des Grands Crus Classés at Dassault). Attractive aromatically, with perfectly ripe wild strawberries, raspberry and loganberry notes the most prominent. With air, more red and darker cherry fruits join the party. A touch of nutmeg and a hint of vanilla pod too, the oak not yet fully integrated. The tannins are fine-grained and they grip and sculpt the wine nicely, but they do turn just a shade dry on the finish. But there’s a pleasing juiciness to this too. 90-92.

 

La Confession (Saint Émilion; tasted at Belgrave). Newly promoted to the ranks of the Grands Crus Classés, but not present at the Association’s tasting at Dassault, it was worth tracking this down! Juicy with plum and blackcurrant fruits, imparting a pleasing purity. Crystalline and juicy with a sleek and sinuous mid-palate. Quite saline in its minerality and with fine-grained grippy limestone tannins. The acidity is a little elevated, which turns this a little stern on the finish. But it’s refreshing in its juiciness. 90-92+.

 

Côte de Baleau (St Emilion Grand Cru Classé; 17 hectare with limestone, clay and sand – a third of each; 95% Merlot; 5% Cabernet Franc; a final yield of 40 hl/ha; pH 3.83; 14% alcohol; a final yield of 50 hl/ha; tasted at the Association des Grands Crus Classés at Dassault and then at Clos Fourtet with Matthieu Cuvelier). Floral, too, and nicely defined aromatically by the Cabernet elements, even more so when tasted a second time. Very pure and focused. Out of respect for the fruit, there’s very little oak. But that fruit is almost a little herbaceous at times. I don’t have too much trouble with that, but it’s not everyone’s proverbial cup of tea. Light and finely-textured, lacking a little mid-palate oomph and maybe hinting towards dryness on the finish. Better when tasted a second time at Clos Fourtet. 89-91.

 

La Couspaude (Saint Émilion; tasted twice, the second time at the Association des Grands Crus Classés at Dassault). Very saline aromatically – one knows one’s in the presence of limestone even before putting the glass to one’s lips. Generous, quite ample with a pleasing fruit intensity – dark stone fruits, brambles and black berries. A subtle trace of violet too, and cedar with aeration. Soft on the attack with fine-grained and yet grippy tannins. The acidity, though, is a little elevated and that seems to turn the fruit towards redder hues that jar a little with the more opulent aromatics. Redcurrant. A little tart on the finish, though a little less so the Association tasting (where I add the ‘+’). 89-91+.

 

Couvent des Jacobins (Saint Émilion; 84% Merlot; 11% Cabernet Franc; 5% Petit Verdot; a final yield of 40 hl/ha; tasted first at the Association des Grands Crus Classés at Dassault, then with Xavier Jean in the historic cloister of the Couvent itself). An amazing ascent to the summit is underway here and this is still a work in progress, but it’s perhaps the finest I’ve yet tasted from Couvent, with Thomas Duclos playing an important role as consultant. Incense, rose petals, wisteria and peonies, a little violet and a gracious plump stone and dark berry fruit – damsons and blueberries, a little bramble too; a nice combination of cracked peppercorns too. The Petit Verdot brings a little strictness of the mid-palate and maybe needs a little more time to fully bed in, but this is complex, layered, superb in its tannin management and incredibly refined. Bravo. The best yet from here and a veritable coup de coeur. 93-95.

 

Croix Beauséjour (Saint Émilion; 95% Merlot; 5% Cabernet Franc; 14% alcohol; 40% new oak; tasted at Beauséjour with Joséphine Duffau Lagarrosse at the end of the en primeur tastings). Very pure and lively, with a vivid black raspberry and mulberry fruit. Lots of graphite and that chalky stony minerality right from the first aromatics. The Cabernet Franc, even at 5%, is very expressive. Blueberry and cassis rising from the glacial cool glassy expansive ocean set by the Merlot. Graphite and walnut. Eloquent and articulate, a vrai vin de terroir and such an excellent introduction to the grand vin itself. Linear, chiselled but never austere. Silkily textured and lifted. 92-94.

 

Croix Canon (Saint Émilion; 54% Merlot; 46% Cabernet Franc; a final yield of 45 hl/ha; pH 3.42; 14% alcohol). Herb-lifted wild berry fruits, fruits of the forest, a nice touch of violet and a suggestion of lavender. A note of heather too. Intense and extremely vertical, very sculpted by the limestone tannins. Pure, precise and juicy, but a little strict, an impression accentuated by the linear character imparted by the architectural tannins. Fresh, clean and lifted on the finish. A good introduction to the style at least of the grand vin. 90-92.

 

Croix Cardinale (Saint Émilion; 52% Cabernet Franc, 41% Merlot, 7% Cabernet Sauvignon; pH 3.50; a final yield of just 15 hl/ha; 13.5% alcohol; the Cabernets are planted here on limestone on south-facing slopes; tasted with Caroline Decoster at Fleur Cardinale). I’m not quite sure what to make of this. It’s made for a very distinct style and consciously intended to be ‘atypical’. It is certainly that. Dense. Chunky. Spicy. I find this a little saturated in the mid-palate, even if it starts with a nice sense of pixilation. But the grain of the tannins and their influence on the wine seems to build in and through the mid-palate, rendering this a little harsh and astringent by the time we get to the finish. I’ll need to re-taste this as I have little sense of how this will resolve itself. Crumbly and distinctly chunky on the finish, but that’s the ambition here. A vin de garde, most certainly; the question, though, is still how successfully this will age. Let me give this the slight benefit of the doubt. 90-92.

 

La Croix de Labrie (Saint Émilion; 85% Merlot; 10% Cabernet Sauvignon; 5% Cabernet Franc; a final yield of 27 hl/ha, seemingly low primarily because of the average age of the vines at 60 years or so; pH 3.41; 14.2% alcohol; tasted twice, the second time at the property). This sings in harmony with the wonderful cool limestone of this part of the plateau. A little closed at first when tasted the first time, but much more open the second. Even when closed we learn much from the evolution of the wine as it slowly unfurls like a fern frond. Glorious aromatically, with lovely and very distinctive subtle but intense violet, pink rose and iris notes, a little graphite and black cherry. We are in the parfumier’s laboratory. Wild blueberries, damson skin and a little blackcurrant. Griotte cherry, blood orange (from the old vine Cabernet Sauvignon) with aeration (and this is a wine that needs time to open). This is beautifully ripe, beautifully balanced and with the most gracious of tannins. Incredibly layered. Tasted alongside quite a representative sample of mid to upper tier Saint Émilion grands crus and grands crus classés this really shines for the quality of the tannins, the crystalline purity of the mid-palate and the aromatic charm and singularity of the fruit and floral signature. Truly excellent and essentially juicy. So sapid and that reinforces the sense of linearity on the finish. 95-97+.

 

La Croizille (St Emilion; 70% Merlot; 30% Cabernet Sauvignon; a final yield of 40 hl/ha; tasted at the Association des Grands Crus Classés at Dassault). A new addition to the ranks of the Grands Crus Classés and I rather like this. Quite a delicately structured wine, with very fine-grained tannins, a certain fluidity and a sinuous quality in the mid-palate and a long and gently tapering finish. Crushed black raspberries, loganberries and wild blueberries – all in finely pixilated detail. Impressive texturally. 91-93.

 

La Dame de Trottevieille (Saint Émilion; 57% Merlot; 43% Cabernet Franc; tasted at Trottevieille with Frédéric Castéja). Plum, damson, blueberry. Graphite. Cedar. Impressively lithe and sinuous, with a nice balance struck between subtle, supple side and the deeper, richer side. The acidity is quite elevated and that makes this a little stern, but the levity and eloquence of the Cabernet Franc compensates and brings lift. Very sapid and clean on the finish. 90-92.

 

Dassault (Saint Émilion; 72% Merlot; 24% Cabernet Franc; 4% Cabernet Sauvignon; pH 3.6; 14% alcohol; tasted twice, the second time at the Association des Grands Crus Classés at Dassault). Very ‘Dassault’ with its dark, plump black cherry fruit which, as ever, is generously enrobed even at this nascent stage with cedar and graphite, a little violet too. Seductive, quite opulent (the mid-palate enriched by the addition of the parcels from Faurie de Souchard), but also restrained and even delicate, with a sinuous quality that I find in many of the leading St Emilions of the vintage. Good choices. Well balanced. 92-94.

 

Destieux (St Emilion; tasted at the Association des Grands Crus Classés at Dassault). Quite oaky when tasted alongside its peers, though that in a way reinforces the pot pourri florality (in a way that reminds me of the Margaux classed growth Lascombes, until Axel Heinz’s arrival)! Plump and quite dense, the tannins shading a little towards the dry side on the finish, with the extraction pushed further than some other neighbouring properties. But it’s plush and full in the mouth and many will be drawn to that. Trade-offs, in the end, can be managed differently; but this works. 89-91.

 

Le Dôme (Saint Émilion; 80% Cabernet Franc; 20% Merlot; aging in oak barrels, 80% of which are new; pH 3.81; Thomas Duclos is now the consultant here; from Jonathan Maltus; this now includes the fruit from Les Astèries which Vieux Château Mazerat picks up that from Le Carré). Often rather closed en primeur, Le Dôme in its youth is invariably a somewhat intimate and shy wine, only slowly revealing what it chooses to reveal. Not in 2023. OK, it’s not revealing all of the glory to come, but it immediately shouts Cabernet Franc, with a gloriously plump and plush wild blueberry, black cherry, cassis and violet-encrusted dark chocolate nose. On the palate, too, this is open and expressive, less densely textured than Vieux Château Mazerat, for instance, and with more clarity, finesse, sapidity and delineation. I love the plunge pool coolness of the mid-palate. Quite an ethereal wine, unusually so at this early stage. 94-96.

 

La Dominique (Saint Émilion; 81% Merlot; 16% Cabernet Franc; 5% Cabernet Sauvignon 5%; a final yield of 49 hl/ha; tasted three times, the third at La Dominique itself; Julien Viaud is the consultant here). Subtle, quite introverted and very classy. This exudes restraint and composure. Glacial, almost gothic, cool dark berry fruits, damsons too, a little wild blueberry. Wild thyme and a little peony. Crushed white peppercorns. Supple ultra-fine grained tannins define a tight and compact cylindrical core charged with fruit. A lovely hint of graphite in the second part of the evolution and a  long fresh almost minty finish (rare in the vintage). Extremely impressive, even though it’s not revealing all of its secrets today. 93-95.

 

Le Dragon de Quintus (Saint Émilion; 71.6% Merlot; 28.4% Cabernet Franc; 14.1% alcohol; tasted at Haut Brion). Creamy, rich and engaging aromatically. Stone fruits – damson and wilted damsons, assorted wild plums, a little black cherry – with a little oregano and marjoram. A touch of blueberry. This is rather impressive, with a pleasing fluidity and momentum over the palate. Well managed with very refined and supple tannins. 91-93.

 

L’Etampe (Saint Émilion; 57% Merlot; 43% Cabernet Franc; from the excellent Vignobles Jade; élévage in a combination of oak barrels and foudres; certified organic). The consultants here are Jean-Claude and Jean-Francois Berrouet and this really shows their signature skilled attention to detail. Darker, richer and spicier than the two other Saint Émilions from Vignobles Jade, this is from a very different terroir type which this expresses with such eloquence and panache. Dustier and earthier at first but then with the most beautiful cedar-encrusted Cabernet Franc notes soaring from the glass – blueberries, cassis leaf, Szechuan peppercorns and a little black cherry stone. Full and rich on the attack, but with a wonderful grip and release of freshly crushed blueberry juice to refresh the palate and help to build the fantail finish. So clear and crisp on the finish. Wonderful. 93-95.

 

Faugères (Saint Émilion; 70% Merlot; 25% Cabernet Franc; 5% Cabernet Sauvignon; a final yield of 31.5 hl/ha; tasted at the Grand Cercle tasting at La Dauphine). Nicely focussed, with less oak than it used to have and less extraction too, so this glides rather more gracefully over the palate. Layered but not deep. Quite crystalline and silkily-textured, though that perhaps serves to reveal the slightly elevated acidity. Fine and very well-made, but not especially complex. 90-92.

 

De Ferrand (St Emilion; 65% Merlot; 35% Cabernet Franc; tasted at the Association des Grands Crus Classés at Dassault; Axel Marchal is the consultant here and has overseen a steep progression). This seems to get better each year. Plump and plush, presenting a very pixilated and detailed image of each of the berry fruits it puts of display, like a fine still life painting from a Dutch master! A bouquet of violets too, painted with the same detail. There’s a lovely ‘Cabernet Franc on calcaire’ leafiness to this and one knows very much where one is from the identity of the tannins. I like that very much. Chewy and, of course, sapid and fresh on the finish. One almost senses the altitude of the terroir in the freshness and personality of the wine. 92-94.

 

Figeac (Saint Émilion; 41% Merlot; 32% Cabernet Franc; 27% Cabernet Sauvignon – small and very concentrated and so a little reduced; a final yield of 45 hl/ha, even after two green harvests; pH 3.68; 5% press wine; 13.5% alcohol; 100% new oak – though it’s difficult to believe; tasted with Blandine Brier Manoncourt and Frédéric Faye and quite a few of the family and team at Figeac itself; lots of careful choices made in the vineyard to match the number of bunches to the plant’s capacity to mature them in a generous vintage like this; the 130^th vintage of the Manoncourt family at Figeac). Very, very Figeac just as La Conseillante is so very Conseillante and Cheval Blanc is so very Cheval Blanc. Walnuts and walnut shells. Black berries and black cherry. A little cedar, rather more graphite. Pink rose petals from the garden, even a little rose water. Supple, gracious and elegant yet plump and plush. That graciously beautiful and cool, composed Cabernet fruit. Great depth and profundity but rather different from the Merlot-dominated wines of the appellation and very much more left-bank in style in this vintage. Quite a tight frame but that just accentuates the near infinite sense of vertical layering. Juicy, with slowly circulating currents of cassis and black cherry fruit juice. I find this incredibly eloquent with great pixilated detail, accentuated by the more significant volume of tannin from the perfectly ripe Cabernet fruit picked over a long period of time (they needed to persuade the team to hold off). This has a gravelly, growly depth and gravitas (almost closer to Lafite then Cheval Blanc!). A wonderful and brilliant complementarity of the varietals – it needs the Merlot for the frame, and it needs the Cabernet for aromatic complexity, the lift and the eloquent florality and it needs the Sauvignon for the depth, profundity and the structure which will make this perhaps the longest lasting right-bank wine of the vintage. There are more immediately accessible wines, but this perhaps the most profound from the right-bank. 97-99.

 

Fleur Cardinale (Saint Émilion; 56% Merlot; 37% Cabernet Franc; 7% Cabernet Sauvignon; from a lovely vintage on a rather special terroir of 27.6 ha; a final yield of just 15 hl/ha; tasted at La Dominique and then at the property with Caroline Decoster; Ludivine Chagnon is the new technical director, having joined the team from Laroque in September 2023). Note the very low yields – mildew I presume. A touch of cordite, struck match, myrrh and exotic spices, black cherries and plump crunchy bright and fresh blackcurrants and blueberries. Cassis, too, with a little aeration and we find this again on the palate. Deep but not especially concentrated, despite the relatively narrow frame. The calcaire tannins hold this tight to the spine. Nicely structured but this lacks a little density. Luminous and very precise, however. 91-93.

 

Fleur de Lisse (Saint Émilion; 67% Merlot; 33% Cabernet Franc; from the excellent Vignobles Jade; élévage in a combination of concrete tanks, amphorae and foudres; certified organic; the consultants here are the dream team of Jean-Claude and Jean-Francois Berrouet). I already like Fontfleurie very much; I like this even more. It would be easy to think that this were 50 per cent Cabernet Franc or more as it’s that which really marks the aromatics – a most beautiful wild blueberry and cassis-inflected fruit profile reinforced by that lovely limestone terroir lift. It’s profoundly floral too – wisteria and peonies, a little lilac and violet. And so fresh, engaging and vivid in the mouth, where those cassis and whitecurrant notes are very evident. There’s a little more depth and substance than in recent vintages and one senses the quality of the work in the vineyard as well as the progression. Another coup de coeur from Vignobles Jade. 93-95.

 

La Fleur Morange (St Emilion; 70% Merlot; 30% Cabernet Franc; a final yield of 20 hlha, 17 hl/ha after selection; 14% alcohol; tasted at the Association des Grands Crus Classés at Dassault). Floral, as you might hope it to be, with rose petals and violet interwoven with the plump black cherries. Interesting in the mouth, at first very soft, but the fine-grained tannins engage quickly, taking the fruit in charge and sculpting it over the spine. Never terribly gentle, but dynamic and structured. Impressive, though if without the finesse of some of its peers. 90-92+.

 

Fombrauge (St Emilion; 90% Merlot; 10% Cabernet Franc; a final yield of 49 hl/ha; tasted at the Association des Grands Crus Classés at Dassault). One of the more oaky wines in the line-up, but as with some others that has a certain style and it reinforces both the floral element and the black cherry notes. A black forest gateau of a kind, but with very fresh, almost a little under-ripe cherries bringing an unusual acidity. That kind of works. Vanilla root and dark berry and stone fruit. Quite substantial but with a pretty abrupt finish. 89-91.

 

Fonplégade (Saint Émilion; 85% Merlot; 15% Cabernet Franc; Derenoncourt consulted; organic since 2013, biodynamic since 2019; tasted twice, the second time at the Association des Grands Crus Classés at Dassault). Tense and intense. Aromatically, this is very vivid and also highly distinctive. Crushed berry and stone fruits seem to be projected vertically from the surface of the wine in the glass without the need for any aeration, with mandarin and Seville orange zesty notes too and a touch of graphite, a little walnut shell. Lovely texturally, with a very silky opening leading to a finely-delineated and impressively lithe and layered mid-palate. Long, fluid, dynamic across the palate and much more sinuous than the, at times, strict linearity that tends to characterise the vintage, this is a great wine from Fonplégade. As I have noted before here, one senses the health of the vineyard in the glass. A wine that one might well pick blind as biodynamic and, quite possibly, as Fonplégade. 93-95.

 

Fonroque (St Emilion; 87% Merlot; 13% Cabernet Franc; a final yield of 50 hl/ha; tasted at the Association des Grands Crus Classés at Dassault). A little closed and introspective, but dominated aromatically by dark berry fruits, notably black currant with a little blueberry. There’s a lovely trace of violet here too – very subtle. Very pretty, very vivid and very fresh. Dense, compact and layered – impressively so for a wine so finely-grained in its tannic structure and so pure and limpid in its mouthfeel. Excellent. 92-94+.

 

De Fonbel (St Emilion; 64% Merlot; 28% Cabernet Sauvignon; 8% Carménère; tasted at Ausone with Alain Vauthier). Aromatically, very distinctive, with those Carménère notes. Leafy. Black berry, sloes and cherries. Quite tight in its frame, with lots of layered depth and nice pixilation from the tannins. Luminous and bright with lots of lift too. Easy, accessible and for relatively young drinking. A lovely mouthful. Succulent and plush and over quite a tight cylindrical frame. 91-93.

 

Fontfleurie (Saint Émilion; 89% Merlot; 11% Cabernet Franc; from the excellent Vignobles Jade; élévage in a combination of oak barrels, foudres and amphorae; certified organic). Something of a coup de coeur. Damsons, black cherries, blueberries and cassis. This offers great purity but also a certain creaminess rare in the vintage. It’s the blueberries and cassis that come through in the mouth where I am impressed by the energy and liveliness of this, but also its depth, layering and concentration. Certainly as strong as the 2022 – not many are. The upward ascent here continues with strong support from Jean-Claude and Jean-Francois Berrouet. 92-94.

 

Franc Mayne (Saint Émilion; tasted twice, the second time at the Association des Grands Crus Classés at Dassault). Gorgeously expressive aromatically. Violets. Incense. Cedar, black cherry, blueberry, a little sprinkling of wild fresh herbs. Cool and calm, glistening and shimmering. Delicate and intimate, but intense. Very pretty and actually impressively dense when one thinks about it. Very refined. Quite saline on the finish. The Cabernet fruit really sings here this year, leaving its signature on the long, lingering linear finish as a parting shot. 92-94.

 

La Gaffelière (Saint Émilion; 58% Merlot; 42% Cabernet Franc, a little more than in 2022; a final yield of 45 hl/ha; pH 3.5; 14.3% alcohol; tasted at the UGCB press tasting at the Cité du Vin and again with Thomas Soubes at La Gaffelière). Crushed raspberries and black raspberries, blackcurrant and black berry, a little blueberry too from the Cabernet Franc. Very fine, very intense and impressively (if not hardly unexpectedly) pure, precise, focused and linear. Succulent. What is rendered vertically on the nose is conveyed horizontally on the palate with laser- or rapier-like focus. So clear, so pure, so balanced and so elegant. The proverbial iron fist in a velvet glove – soft power. Not the fruit density of 2020 or 2022, though this is deceptive, but lots of terroir character and an excellent sense of harmony. Very spherical on the finish. Polished and subtle. Fluid and harmonious. 93-95+.

 

Grace Dieu des Prieurs (Saint Émilion; 85% Merlot; 15% Cabernet Franc; a final yield of 49 hl/ha; from 6.8 hectares on sand and clay half way between the town of St Emilion and the border with Pomerol; 100% new Radoux Super Fine Blend barrels, very much the Mitjavile signature; 13.5% alcohol). Limpid and intensely purple-hued in the glass, this is radiant aromatically and it is the fruit more than the distinct oak profile that one notices first. This is very pure and very intense. Raspberry and loganberry, bramble and, above, mulberry. There’s an oh-so-subtle hint of patchouli and dried rose petals, a little Szechuan peppercorn note too. On the palate the tannins are incredibly fine-grained giving this a cool glossiness rare in the vintage. The fruit is darker here – blueberries and black cherries, black raspberry and mulberry, once again. There’s very little if any trace of the oak and this is very well sustained on the finish. Juicy, sapid and wonderfully refreshing. A little spearmint on the finish. One can just about detect the trace of Radoux Blend oak in the empty glass, but it’s the most subtle of signatures. 93-95.

 

Grand Corbin (St Emilion; tasted at the Association des Grands Crus Classés at Dassault). Parfumiers’ essences of violet and lavender, rosemary, blueberries and black cherry. This is plush and pulpy in the mouth, limpid and quite fluid and it has a soft natural sweetness that is rare in the vintage. Nicely managed and very much a success. 90-92.

 

Grand Corbin Despagne (St Emilion; 75% Merlot; 24% Cabernet Franc; 1% Cabernet Sauvignon; a final yield of 35-40 hl/ha; pH 3.68; 13.6% alcohol; tasted at the Association des Grands Crus Classés at Dassault). Quite saline in its minerality, with even a suggestion of iodine, all nicely enrobing and seasoning the rich, deep cherry and crushed purple berry fruits. There’s a little wisteria and violet too. Supple, quite opulent for the vintage and with very gracious and elegant tannins. Another great success from François Despagne, this signs off with a lovely hint of salty liquorice on the long and gently tapering finish. 92-94+.

 

Grand Mayne (Saint Émilion; tasted at the UGCB press tasting at the Cité du Vin). Almost a little like Dassault in its cool, rich black cherry fruit, liberally enrobed with cedar – though perhaps here the fruit is a shade lighter in hue (with more berries and fewer cherries) and the cedar joined by graphite and pencil shavings. A lovely cassis signature on the palate too. Long and linear, slowly tapering to an asymptotic finish. Excellent. 92-94.

 

Haut Brisson (St Emilion; 95% Merlot; 5% Cabernet Franc; 18 hectares on clay-limestone, fine gravel and fine brown sand; a generous yield, as at all of the VIgnobles K estates with essentially no mildew; tasted at Bellefont Belcier). No frost or mildew losses here so finally a good yield. Lots of terroir character. Spicy and chewy, with a dark peppery note, black cherry, blueberry and bramble. Intense. A bold and broad-shouldered frame, brilliantly sapid and juicy to the core with fine but crumbly tannins and impressive density. Of evident classed growth quality in this vintage, with chewy tannins to resolve but no hint of any dryness and just a wonderful sapidity on the finish. A wine to cause reputational damage in blind tastings of the future. Best ever from here. 91-93.

 

Haut Gros Caillou (Saint Émilion; 90% Merlot; 5% Cabernet Sauvignon; 5% Cabernet Franc; a property of just 4 hectares in the southwest of the appellation; Thomas Duclos is the consultant here; the vines have an average of 45 years of age; 13.5% alcohol). Acquired in 2019 by Louis Ballande with neighbouring Palais Cardinal. Just 6000 bottles produced in. Excellent. Wonderfully sapid and juicy with a beautifully delineated and defined mid-palate stuffed full of plump red and darker berry fruit and a little red cherry. Wonderfully crisp and croquant, sapid and crystalline, with polished yet beady tannins. Long and refreshing on the finish. Definitely a property to watch. Technically very accomplished; texturally, we could be tasting something from 2020 here. 92-94.

 

L’If (Saint Émilion; 80% Merlot; 20% Cabernet Franc; pH 3.37; 14.1% alcohol; tasted with Jacques Thienpont and Diana Berrouet Garcia at Le Pin). Very beautiful. A lot of vineyard restructuration has taken place here and one now feels that a new kind of harmony has been achieved. A lovely wild herbal element, quite a tight frame, very mineral and fresh, chiselled by the pure calcaire tannins. Lovely texturally, this is shimmering and limpid, glistening and plush, with ripples of freshness and broad sheets of fine-textured silk. A brilliantly detailed bright dark berry fruit – brambles and blackberry above all. Wondrous texture with lovely fine-grained powdery chalky tannins. L’If is no longer a work in progress. Vivid and bright but never austere or strict, this is delicate and refined where other limestone Saint Émilions are typically a little austere. Joyous. 95-97.

 

Jean Faure (Saint Émilion; 65% Cabernet Franc; 30% Merlot; 5% Malbec; certified organic and biodynamic; 14% alcohol; this is wonderfully placed between Cheval Blanc, Figeac and Evangile on an iron oxide rich clay terroir of 18 hectares). This has often been around 60% Cabernet Franc, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen it at 65% of the final blend. Brilliantly expressive of that aerial plump Cabernet blueberry fruit with lavender and violet, a little rosemary and wild thyme; a little mulberry and bramble too. Quite an ample frame on the attack, but the fine-grained yet considerable tannins grip the fruit quite quickly, pulling it back to the spine and in the process ratcheting up the intensity, concentration, depth and density of the wine. Tense, vivid and vibrant, this is very pure, precise and focussed on the fresh spearmint finish. 93-95.

 

Laforge (Saint Émilion; 90% Merlot; 10% Cabernet Franc; pH 3.75; from Jonathan Maltus). Fuller, richer, spicier, but above all with more fruit intensity and lift than Teyssier – exactly as it should be. This is excellent in the context of the vintage, the oak more moderated than it used to be (though it’s not gone away), the fruit purer and more chiselled in and through the mid palate. The ferrous minerality often so dominant here is more restrained and I like the cedary notes already coming through aromatically. Very pure fruited on the palate and with a pleasing natural sweetness that really works to create tension with the natural acidity of the vintage. 90-92.

 

Larcis Ducasse (Saint Émilion; 86% Merlot; 14% Cabernet Franc; a final yield of 43 hl/ha; pH 3.55; aging in oak barrels, 50 % of which are new; tasted at the UGCB press tasting at the Cité du Vin). This exceeds my expectations and seems to have a new lease of life in this vintage. Plump berries, perfectly ripe and popping with fruit juice. Opulent and more gracious than it used to be, with a very pure and crystalline fruit, less mid-palate density and more layering, giving the stage to the fruit and to the terroir. For it is the terroir really shines here. I find this more Laroque-like in its approach to structure and that, for me, really shows off this exceptional and unique top-tier Côte de Pavie terroir so well. Extremely fresh and sapid. A little mint on the finish. A brilliant wine that I long to revisit already. A new benchmark for this fantastically situated property. 95-97+.

 

Larmande (Saint Émilion; tasted at the UGCB press tasting at the Cité du Vin). Elegant and refined; intense in its violet and peony florality. Really very stylish and sleek aromatically and plunge-pool cool in the mid-palate when we get to it too. Long and glistening, with a gracious mouthfeel and a sumptuous texture. Quite sinuous if perhaps suffering from just a dip in fruit concentration towards the finish. 91-93+.

 

Laroque (St Emilion; 99% Merlot; 1% Cabernet Franc; pH 3.42; a final yield of 46 hl/ha; 14.15% alcohol; aging in oak barrels, 50% of which are new; tasted at the Association des Grands Crus Classés at Dassault and then with David Suire at the property with essentially the same notes; the old Merlot turned out to be much less susceptible to mildew which hit newer clones more drastically). A vintage for the clay terroirs says David Suire. Limpid and glossy. White pepper. A little salinity and almost an iodine oyster shell element. Walnut oil, wisteria, raspberry, loganberry (above all), black cherry (but actually very little), blueberry and bramble. Blood orange (a marker of the parcel ‘les moulins’, just behind the chateau itself, apparently). Loganberry is the fruit marker that I hone in most of all. Rose petals and rose water. Very fine, very delicate and poised and very expressive of the cool slopes and plateau that together comprise its terroir. Mirror pool. The 2001 comparison again. Staggeringly pure and limpid, glossy and silky. On the palate the fruit is a shade lighter – pixilated raspberries and loganberries above all. Crystalline and fluid, lively and energetic. Very pure, focused and precise and more delicate than it sometimes is, if still very linear and long on the tapering finish. A natural acidity that accompanies the fruit throughout its journey from the attack all the way to the end. So glacially pure. 94-96+.

 

Laroze (Saint Émilion; 60% Merlot; 40% Cabernet Franc; tasted twice, the second time at the Association des Grands Crus Classés at Dassault). This is good, but it’s not on a par with the 2022 above all, though better the second time. Dark berry fruits, a little baked, plums and baked plums, sweet spices and a very pronounced and distinct ferrous mineral note. Liquorice and cassis. On the palate I find this strangely sweet. But the core is well charged with crushed berries and pulpy plum flesh and there’s a pleasing sapidity too. A substantial wine for the vintage. The tannins turn just a little dry towards the finish, but I like the still subtle suggestion of graphite that I suspect will come through with aging. 89-91.

 

Lassègue (St Emilion; 50% Cabernet Franc; 43% Merlot; 7% Cabernet Sauvignon; pH 3.7; 14% alcohol; aging in French oak barrels, 50% of which are new and which are sourced from 15 different forests; tasted at Lassègue with Pierre and Hélène Seillan). This is the first time that this is majority Cabernet with recent replanting, the aim being to adapt the vineyard to global climate change; it’s also the first vintage as a Grand Cru Classé. Violet, crushed rose petals and blood orange intermingle with the dark berry and stone fruits. Green peppercorns bring their own freshness. The florality is revealed slowly and progressively. In the mouth this is both fluid and crystalline, more delicate than it used to be. It is both mineral and spicy on the finish, with the salinity of black liquorice. Very clean and linear on the finish after the amplitude, opulence and richness of the attack and mid-palate. Nicely chiselled by the calcaire tannins. Very beautiful, showing nice restraint and glorious in its floral Cabernet fruit – one sees the future of the appellation here. And we have something resembling the tannic quality of Vérité itself. Lifted and elegant. 93-95.

 

Lynsolence (Saint Émilion; 100% Merlot; tasted at the Grand Cercle tasting at La Dauphine). Incense and bright fresh spring blooms, a little graphite and acacia wood, a twist of black pepper too. Soft and beguiling with a lovely fresh cassis element welling up from the depths brining both freshness and lift. Very good as it so often is. Elegant and beguiling. Subtle. 92-94.

 

Mangot (Saint Émilion; 65% Merlot; 30% Cabernet Franc; 5% Cabernet Sauvignon; Thomas Duclos is the consultant here). Vivant, vivid and wonderfully expressive both aromatically and on the palate, this exudes the spirit and health in the vineyard associated with biodynamic winemaking – you can feel it, you can scent it, you can taste it. Crystalline purity reinforced by those wondrous calcaire tannins and a great sense of dynamism and energy in the ultra-sapid and juicy mid-palate. My only qualm about this wine in the past was just a little too much oak; not here. This is truly great, above all on the context of the vintage. 93-95.

 

La Marzelle (Saint Émilion; 80% Merlot; 15% Cabernet Franc; 5% Cabernet Sauvignon; 14% alcohol). A property on a steep upward trajectory, confirmed by the quality of this wine. Saline. Pure, crystalline in and through the mid-palate and with an elegance and sauvété (a French word that seems utterly appropriate here) that it never had before. Tight and with an impressive well-defined frame, nicely charged with fresh croquant dark berry fruit, above all wild blueberry and black currant. A little note of incense that I really like. Dynamic and energetic. Dark chocolate. The wood actually needs a little time to integrate, but that’s just a matter of time, so compact is the core of dark stone and berry fruit here. There’s a lovely hint the cedary notes to come and a little rose petal with aeration. Excellent. There’s a glass ceiling (or at least a barrier) in St Emilion in this vintage – this is above it. Very sapid and pure on the finish. A very fine and long, linear finish. 92-94+.

 

Monbousquet (Saint Émilion; 65% Merlot; 20% Cabernet Franc; 15% Cabernet Sauvignon; a final yield of 28.8 hl/ha; pH 3.73; 14.2% alcohol; tasted at Pavie with Olivier Gailly). Rich and plump, but with less oak and more fruit intensity than in the past. Dark berries, cherries, brambles, nutmeg and cinnamon spice, a little pot pourri. We have, too, that distinct ferrous and crushed rock and graphite minerality that comes from the gravel and crasse de fer terroir. Fine and quite crystalline, but with significant extraction. That renders this a little un-delineated in the mid-palate but it is certainly finer than it used to be with very grainy, beady tannins. A vin de garde, the oak well-restrained and well-integrated. 90-92.

 

Mondot (Saint Émilion; 90% Merlot; 10% Cabernet Sauvignon and Franc, from a plot planted 7 years ago; a final yield of 53 hl/ha; aged in a combination of second use oak and steel vats; tasted with Aymeric de Gironde at Troplong Mondot). Quite a bold structure for an ostensible second label (even if it now comes, in effect, from a separate vineyard on a limestone slope). Red and darker berry fruits, a bit of redcurrant and bramble and black berry. Quite sweet-fruited, despite the marginally elevated acidity. Walnut shell. Black cracked pepper. Bold and layered, sapid and quite saline. Refreshing on the finish. 90-92.

 

La Mondotte (Saint Émilion; 80% Merlot; 20% Cabernet Franc; a final yield of 37 hl/ha; 13.5% alcohol; tasted at Canon La Gaffelière with Stephane and Ludovic von Neipperg). Gorgeous aromatically, this is delicate, subtle and intimate – inviting you in rather than coming outwards to greet you. Violets. Peonies. Black cherry. Blackberry. Graphite. On the palate, this is rich and broad and beautifully composed – very La Mondotte but with a new grace. This garden vineyard grows wonderful fruit and beautiful flowers. Beautifully succulent. Intensely sapid. Powerful but all in finesse. An exquisite composition. A total harmony. Truly memorable. 95-97.

 

Mondou (Saint Émilion). A lovely wine in the context of the vintage, showing the upward trajectory now established here. Succulent and expressive aromatically, with a pleasingly dark fruit profile – brambles, mulberries, damsons and cherries, kirsch too with aeration and a little violet. That kirsch note is immediately picked up in the mouth too and I am impressed by the quality of the tannins and the compactness of the mid-palate – a nice cylindrical core that gives this shape all the way to a long finish. 90-92+.

 

Monlot (Saint Émilion). Lighter in extract than many wines of the appellation but with a very pronounced radiant pink-purple rim. Aromatically very expressive if a little dominated by the oak – with muscovado sugar, vanilla, Chinese five spice, nutmeg interweaving with the dried floral elements and the red and darker berry and stone fruit. Given the evidently gentle extraction I’m surprised to find the grippy tannins rather dry and powdery on the finish, but there are some nice ingredients here. Lacks a little mid-palate density and it’s that ultimately that accentuates the oak influence at this stage. 89-91.

 

Montlabert (Saint Émilion; 75% Merlot; 25% Cabernet Franc; pH 3.5; 14% alcohol; tasted at the Association des Grands Crus Classés at Dassault). Another new member of the Grands Crus Classés – massively merited. One almost knows already from the quality of the second wine, reinforced by one’s understanding of the work going on in the background here, that this is going to be good. It is – excellent, in fact. Subtle, elegant and refined with that lovely leafy blueberry Cabernet Franc note wafting from the glass even without coaxing. Wisteria. An intimate wine aromatically, with lovely but again subtle black cherry fruit. The sense of cool, calm intimacy continues on the palate where the beguilingly soft tannins trick you at first into overlooking quite how dense and compact it is. Long, sapid, juicy to the core and with a long and distinguished life ahead of it. Probably the measure of the 2022, if rather different in character. 92-94.

 

Montlisse (St Emilion; tasted at the Association des Grands Crus Classés at Dassault). This starts slightly floral, with a little wild strawberry too. But the subtly of that is a little overwhelmed by the salinity, although it does calm to reveal further complexity with black cherry notes building with aeration. Quite bold and punchy over a broad-frame, perhaps at the expense of some delineation and definition. But this is a solid wine in the context of the vintage. 89-91.

 

Moulin du Cadet (St Emilion; 100% Merlot; pH 3.44; 14.5% alcohol; tasted at the Association des Grands Crus Classés at Dassault). A wine I associate, aromatically, with black cherry and cedar and that’s exactly what we find here, impressively so. Soft and seductive, quite opulent and rich. A lovely rose petal florality too and I find this brighter and more mobile through the mid-palate than usual. Impressive. It’s not a surprise that it’s good; but it’s very good indeed. Very juicy. 92-94.

 

Moulin St-Georges (Saint Émilion; 85% Merlot; 15% Cabernet Franc; tasted at Ausone with Alain Vauthier). Fuller, richer, more plush and plump than de Fonbel. Old school in its aromatics but with a lovely luminous mid-palate. A broader frame, not overly stuffed other than with fruit and stretched wide to give this more crystallinity. Succulent. Juicy and sapid. Wild herbs and a note of heather on the finish. Lovely. 92-94.

 

Pavie (Saint Émilion; 51% Merlot; 32% Caberbet Franc; 17% Caberent Sauvignon; a final yield of 32.8 hl/ha; with just 30 per of the total production making the strict selection for the grand vin; pH 3.66; 14.25% alcohol; tasted at Pavie with Olivier Gailly). This has a lovely intense florality – very much the parfumier’s essence of assorted flowers, notably rose and violet. Chocolate-coated violet. Lavender too. Black cherry. A touch of mocha. Espresso coffee. This is big, boldly structured and broad-shouldered, opulent and monumental – in short, Pavie through and through. It also has a lovely texture and mouth feel – cashmere, but layers and layers of its – each forged from pure berry and stone fruit and seemingly interwoven with liquorice and aniseed, with the tannins chiselling the external parameters (setting the width) and indicating the layering too (more horizontally). A gothic cathedral carved from limestone tannins. This is a true vin de garde and deeply imposing and impressive it is too. Aeration brings more grace and harmony – as if the wine starts to relax. In 2023 Pavie offers the finesse of the vintage but with a degree of concentrated power that no other wine of the appellation has. 96-98.

 

Pavie Macquin (Saint Émilion; 82% Merlot; 17% Cabernet Franc; 1% Cabernet Sauvignon; a final yield of 48 hl/ha; pH 3.35; 14.2% alcohol; tasted at the UGCB press tasting at the Cité du Vin). This remains very true to its style, in a vintage in which Larcis-Ducasse seems somehow more aerial and expressive. Bolder, bigger, slightly spicier and slightly denser too, quite saline in its minerality. Quite ferrous in its minerality, with an oyster shell-iodine note too, and just a little more open-textured and crystalline in the mid-palate than is usual here at this nascent stage. Fireworks, struck match, red cherry and darker berry fruits. Long and racy, but without the fruit concentration of recent great vintages. 92-94.

 

Péby-Faugères (Saint Émilion; 100% Merlot; from a vineyard of 7.18 ha; a final yield of 34.6 hl/ha; tasted at La Dominique). Plush, plump, with more extraction but the same textural finesse as Faugères. Incense, cherry, candlewax, myrrh and black berry and stone fruits. More new oak too. Glossy. Gracious. A nice balance and the oak, though a little evident on the nose, is very well incorporate on the palate. Rippling and glistening. Very impressive and technically accomplished. Lighter in style in this vintage but it gains in delineation and precision for that. 92-94+.

 

Petit Cheval (Saint Émilion; 50% Merlot (from 3 plots); 50% Cabernet Franc (from 2 plots); this is a true second vine, with every one of the 56 plots ‘interviewed’ blind, in effect, for its potential part in the grand vin; Pierre-Olivier’s aim is to bring the vineyard into the bottle and make it representative of Cheval Blanc itself as a vineyard; of the 56 plots, 9 are currently being replanted with 41 plots of the 47 used for the grand vin, only one was unused in either; tasted at Cheval Blanc with Pierre-Olivier Clouet). So much cedar. I love it. Dark and intense and voluptuous unlike any other second wine of the vintage. Violets and a concentrated parfumier’s essence of violet. Sumptuous, succulent, juicy, radiant. This really could be Cheval Blanc, so expressive of the identity of the property is it. Juicy, intensely salivating and hyper-fresh with the acidity brilliantly distributed and integrated. Wow. Incredibly refreshing, with a little mint and aniseed on the finish. 94-96.

 

Petit Faurie de Soutard (St Emilion; tasted at the Association des Grands Crus Classés at Dassault). The sample is just a little petillant, alas. Anyway, what do we have? A basket of blooms, very pretty aromatically. Fleur de sel. Lithe and sapid, indeed very juicy, facilitated by the open texture and the clarity of the mid-palate. Quite a broad frame, the fruit perhaps stretched a little thin. But I like this and I prefer the trade-off between precision and extraction to be managed this way. I’d still like to re-taste this though. 90-92+.

 

Peymouton (Saint Émilion; 70% Merlot; 23% Cabernet Franc; 7% Cabernet Sauvignon; produced by the team of Laroque, led by David Suire; back in the day it was part of that then massive estate). Crunchy, fresh bright red and darker berry fruits, cassis much in evidence. Loganberry. This has a pleasing limestone terroir signature too. Pure, precise, tight and focussed. But it’s quite strict and it takes a while to take shape in the mouth. The tannins, too, are a little sharp and needle like, even if they impart a pleasing sense of the limestone terroir from which they hail. This fades quite quickly. 88-90.

 

De Pressac (Saint Émilion; 70% Merlot; 16.5% Cabernet Franc; 9% Carménère; 2.5% Malbec; 0.5% Petit Verdot; tasted twice, the second time at the Association des Grands Crus Classés at Dassault, with broadly consistent notes). Rich, creamy and quite aerial with a distinct wild herbal element interwoven nicely with the pulpy damson and assorted berry fruit. A nice trace of cedar. On the palate, this has a lovely sense of pick up and energy on the attack, with fine-grained and quite glossy tannins. It gets a little more bogged down in the mid-palate as the granularity of the tannins seems to grow, disrupting the flow of the wine over the palate. But there’s much to like here too. Now on an impressive upward ascent. 90-92.

 

Le Prieuré (St Emilion; 85% Merlot; 15% Cabernet Franc; a final yield of 35 hl/ha; pH 3.5; 14.5% alcohol; from a vineyard of 12 hectares on the limestone plateau above La Clotte; vinified by the team from Calon-Ségur). A work in progress (with 2 of the 3 planned acts already completed), this is already showing dividends. In 2023 the wine has a fabulous limestone signature that it had a few vintages back but which it seemed to lose in 2021 and 2022. I find this beautiful aromatically and lifted with lovely violet and crushed rock notes alongside the pure blueberries, black cherries and with a little Cabernet Franc leafiness too. Supple. Gracious. Quite opulent in a way, but always fluid, exciting and intense in and through the mid-palate. Long and gently tapering on the finish. A return to form. 92-94.

 

Puyblanquet (Saint Émilion; 80% Merlot; 20% Cabernet Franc; just 11 of the 19 hectares here are in production with significant replanting underway; just in front of Pressac, next to Boutisse; 14.2% alcohol; tasted at La Gaffelière with Thomas Soubes). Beautiful in its intensely dark fruited aromatic profile. Plump but sleek and plush. Brambles and blackberries. A hint of cedar and graphite. Lovely texture and nicely chiselled. Very pure and lithe. Excellent. Luminous at the core and with lovely powdery chalky tannins on the finish. This gets better each year. 92-94.

 

Quinault L’Enclos (Saint Émilion; 67% Merlot; 17% Cabernet Sauvignon; 16% Cabernet Franc; aged only in foudres and now for 24 months; this is no longer to be released en primeur). Graphite. A nice dark fruit profile. Sloes and damsons. Cedar. Peony. Iris. Soft and caressing. Not an ample frame but that accentuates the sense of profundity and depth as well as the concentration. This feels wild and herbal, above all in its aromatics. On the palate it is succulent and svelte with a well-defined spherical core. Pure, precise, clean and with lift on the finish, the frame providing enough space for the juice to circulate. A nice hint of black pepper on the well-sustained finish. The best recent vintage. 92-94.

 

Quintus (Saint Émilion; 78.3% Merlot; 21.7% Cabernet Franc; a final yield of 43 hl/ha; pH 3.6; 15% alcohol). This feels quite serious. And it’s a big step up from the already impressive Dragon. Meaty and substantial, with a little tobacco smoke. Rose petals and parfumier’s essence of rose petals; Parma violets. Beeswax. A hint of sweet spicing, the oak as yet not fully integrated. Black cherry, damsons, blueberry, bramble. Mandarin and satsuma, too. Graphite. Black and green tea. On the palate this is sumptuous and opulent, with a lovely well-sustained chewy grape skin note on the finish. I love too the hint of limestone tannins on the crumbly, powdery finish – from the incorporation of the Grand Pontet plateau parcels I imagine. 93-95.

 

Ripeau (St Emilion; 65% Merlot; 30% Cabernet Franc; 5% Cabernet Sauvignon; a final yield of 41.2 hl/ha; 14.5% alcohol; tasted at the Association des Grands Crus Classés at Dassault). One of the most red-berry fruited at the Association tasting. Raspberry, loganberry, redcurrant and a little blackcurrant. Limpid, glossy and nicely delineated with lots of precision and detail. Fine. Long and tapering on the finish. 90-92+.

 

Roc de Candale (Saint Émilion). Baked clay path, wild herbs, dark plum and berry fruits. The attack shows the elevated acidity, and starts with the crushed berry notes, but we get a pleasing, and slightly sweeter secondary arrival of cherries (red more than black), lifting this. I like, too, the juicy character of the mid-palate. More vivid and dynamic in the mouth than aromatically at this stage, but certainly promising. 89-91.

 

Rocheyron (Saint Émilion; 75% Merlot; 25% massal-selection Bouchet; a final yield of 35 hl/ha; certified organic; tasted at the property with Peter Sisseck). In terroir terms it strikes me that Rocheyron is to Laroque, what Canon is to Berliquet. There were some mildew losses here but still a decent overall yield. This was very early harvested for this part of Saint Émilion, with picking still underway at the time in Pomerol. Very delicate with that subtle ‘Bouchet’ cassis and blackcurrant leafiness. A subtle hint of cedar and rather more graphite. A cool mirror pool mid-palate. Lovely green and green Szechuan peppercorns. A little pink peppercorn too. A loamy earthiness. Blueberry. One of those wines whose softness, suppleness and elegance in the mouth is clear already from the aromatics (don’t ask me how that works, but it does). Cool, so incredibly silky in texture – and silk rather than cashmere as it’s so micro-layered. This has more density than Laroque, with the finest grained and granular tannins acting like glass rollers differentiating the layers. But this come with no loss of density or concentration. Quite a tight frame, more so than its near neighbour, and that accentuates the sense of density and compactness here, gloriously so. There’s a lovely sensation in the mouth as the black cherry notes build and the wine evolves over the palate, So often in this vintage it’s the dark berry fruit that triumphs over the stone fruit; here it’s the opposite. In short, this becomes more and more seductive as it unfurls over the palate. A magical wine and so well handled, expressing this wondrous terroir in such an accomplished and articulate way. The length of my note is an indication of my enthusiasm. 97-99.

 

Rol Valentin (St Emilion; 78% Merlot; 15% Cabernet Franc; 7% Malbec; a final yield of 40 hl/ha; tasted at the Association des Grands Crus Classés at Dassault). Struck match, flint, incense, pot pourri and dried petals, red and darker stone fruit, damson and a little dark berry fruit too. Rich and a little oaky, if perhaps less so than it used to be. This almost feels a little sweet – from the oak toast perhaps – and in a vintage defined by elevated acidity that feels incongruous. Quite dry on the finish. 88-90.

 

Saintayme (Saint Émilion; 100% Merlot; aging in oak barrels, 30% of them new; 14.6% alcohol; tasted with Noemie Durantou at L’Eglise-Clinet). A lovely intense and rather herb and heather inflected dark berry and stone fruit. Briary fruits, fruits of the forest, plums, damsons, brambles. Quite vertical aromatically. Pure and intense on the palate too with an impressively glassy texture. Quite a tight and narrow frame. But with a good volume of tannin too. Nice walnutty notes on the finish. Excellent. 90-92+.

 

Sansonnet (St Emilion; 87% Merlot; 8% Cabernet Franc; 5% Cabernet Sauvignon; a final yield of 30 hl/ha; pH 3.37; 14.5% alcohol; tasted at the Association des Grands Crus Classés at Dassault). This, too, I find quite oaky, with an oak-enhanced petally florality, a touch of saffron too. Full, plush, deep, rich, ambitious structurally and in terms of extraction. Limpid, lithe and elegant, perhaps more so than you might imagine, given the extraction. But also just a little dry on the finish. Grape skins and chewy tannins. 89-91+.

 

La Serre (Saint Émilion; 73% Merlot; 27% Cabernet Franc; tasted twice, first at Bélair Monange, and then at the Association des Grands Crus Classés at Dassault). Somewhat strange, very saline and quite spicy, with a lighter fruit hue than many. Raspberry, even a little strawberry perhaps. One notices the oak a little – sweet spicing and vanilla pod. Pure. A little lean. Slender but with a nicely chiselled central core. Fine, but a little severe on the finish which I find a touch dry too. 89-91.

 

Simard (Saint Émilion; 55M; 25CF; 15CS; 5PV; at Ausone). Spicy. Rich. Deep. Peppery. Lots of extract. Old school in a way. Chewy tannins, but more lithe and supple that you expect from the aromatics. Nice texture. Good length. Broad frame. Velvet rather than silk. Nice terroir character. 90-92.

 

Soutard (St Emilion; tasted at the UGCB press tasting at the Cité du Vin). A little indistinct aromatically in the UGCB flight of St Emilions, though not really closed. There’s a delicate lavender and violet notes, cherries and blueberries – more and more with even gentle aeration. Subtle. Floral, too, in the mouth with a quite sinuous interweaving of the cherries and flowers that is very attractive. The cassis notes build towards the finish which is saline and sapid. 91-93+.

 

Soutard Cadet (Saint Émilion; tasted at the Grand Cercle tasting at La Dauphine). Incense, crushed and concentrated rose petals, red and darker cherry fruits, redcurrant and blackcurrant. This is well-packed with crushed fruits, but the acidity is a little elevated and that renders this just a little austere. I suspect, though, that this is soften and integrate during élévage and I look forward to re-tasting this, as it has quite a distinct and interesting fruit profile. 89-91.

 

St-Georges Côte Pavie (St Emilion; 80% Merlot; 20% Cabernet Franc; a final yield of 30 hl/ha; tasted at the Association des Grands Crus Classés at Dassault). Incense, wild blueberry, bramble, a little graphite, a hint of wild thyme. Lovely texture, this is a wine that has gained considerably in elegance in recent vintages. The tannins are svelte and fine-grained, they sculpt the flow of the wine over the palate and this has a deal of forward momentum despite the not inconsiderable density. Nicely done. Not the most complex or even age-worthy of the wines of the Côte de Pavie but the best recent vintage of this I think and a sign I suspect of things to come. 91-93.

 

Tertre Rôteboeuf (Saint Émilion; 80% Merlot; 20% Cabernet Franc; 14.5% alcohol; tasted at the property with François Mitjaville). Generous yields here and the only problem was rabbits gorging themselves on the fresh buds in a single parcel! Always a singular wine and in 2023 it’s as singular as ever. If all wines are created equal, some are more equal than others! Less exuberant than Roc de Cambes, but utterly gorgeous in its fresh, lush, deep dark berry fruit profile. Incense. Myrrh. Quite saline, with a touch of cinnamon and pain d’épices. Gingerbread. Pot pourri. Leather – the old armchair. Saffron. Kirsch. Walnut oil. Cracked black pepper. Liquorice root. Very clean on the finish and with a rapier-like linearity. A wine that transcends the vintage in a way and has none of the elevated acidity of others. With essentially one vineyard worker per hectare all was managed with great care and reactivity, so no yield losses and an à la carte harvest at perfect maturity. That goes some way to explaining the quality here. A singularity in any vintage, above all this one. 94-96.

 

Teyssier (Saint Émilion). Really even before you consider the likely price, this is excellent. Bright, aromatically explosive with pure crunchy berry fruits, wild herbal notes and that slight ferrous mineral note I associated with both Teyssier and, above all, Laforge – as well as that Maltus touch of sweet spice and black pepper. A pleasing sense of volume on the palate, with decent density and length, though just a slight hint of dryness on the finish. 89-91.

 

Tour Baladoz (St Emilion; 80% Merlot; 10% Cabernet Franc; 5% Cabernet Sauvignon; 5% Petit Verdot; a final yield of 45 hl/ha; tasted at the Association des Grands Crus Classés at Dassault). Rather oaky and extracted, much more so than La Croizille. Big, bold, rich and punchy. Incense and pot pourri, red and darker cherry notes, red berries too. Nicely fresh and quite vibrant and croquant in its fruit, but there’s a strange disjuncture between the freshness of the palate and the opulence of the aromatics. This needs time to come together. I look forward to re-tasting this in time. 89-91.

 

La Tour Figeac (Saint Émilion; 65% Merlot; 35% Cabernet Franc; a final yield of 45.5 hl/ha; 14% alcohol; tasted at the UGCB press tasting at the Cité du Vin and then at the Association des Grands Crus Classés at Dassault). Distinct in the UGCB line-up with a brighter and lighter red berry note to the fruit, which is then joined by darker berries bringing with them a copious violet florality. In fact we have multiple shades of currant – white, red and black, too, with some of their leafiness too on the palate. Very pure in its fruit profile and very dynamic in the mouth. This is less dense than many, but its more complex and more vibrant and articulate. Lively and engaging, and I really like it. Something of a coup de coeur. As pleasing a vintage of this as I can recall. 92-94+.

 

Tour St-Christophe (Saint Émilion; 80% Merlot; 20% Cabernet Franc; a final yield of 46 hl/ha; pH 3.35; 14.8% alcohol; from 23 hectares on clay-limestone; tasted first at the Association des Grands Crus Classés at Dassault and then at Bellefont Belcier with Emmanuelle Fulchi and Jean-Christophe Meyrou; a generous yield, as at all of the Vignobles K estates with essentially no mildew). A lovely limestone signature to the aromatics such that one can almost feel the calcaire tannins before putting this in one’s mouth. Gorgeous crushed blue-purple berry fruits, generously enrobed in graphite. Peonies and wisteria, parfumier’s essence of violet, a hint of lavender. And a little raspberry freshness with aeration. There’s a generous natural sweetness to this. Vibrant yet soft on the attack. A tight structure, beautifully framed by the structuring beady limestone tannins. Limestone salinity and liquorice notes too. Dense and compact, precise and focussed, this is another great success. Reliably excellent and here with even more clarity, precision and amplitude. Brilliantly sapid and with a wonderful pinch from the grippy crumbly limestone tannins. What’s not to like? 93-95+.

 

Trianon (Saint Émilion). A property long overlooked but now on a steep upward ascent. A difficult vintage, one imagines, here has been pretty well-managed, but this is not on quite a par with the heights of 2020 or 2022. Nice briary and dark berry fruit notes, a little wild thyme too, gentle sweet-spicing and a hint of florality define the aromatics. On the palate, there’s a nice leafy cassis note to the fruit, no hint of greenness and quite an impressive evolution over the palate. But the finish is a little ungainly, the acidity seeming to gather there and turning this a little rustic. Nonetheless, a bold effort that should be rewarded. 89-91.

 

Troplong Mondot (Saint Émilion; 84% Merlot; 13% Cabernet Sauvignon; 3% Cabernet Franc; sourced from the historic 27 hectares of the estate; tasted at the property with Aymeric de Gironde). Darker than Mondot with a lovely damson and sloe stony fruit, a little cassis and bramble, with copious wild herbs and graphite brining additional interest. This is big, bold, rich and plump with great amplitude and yet also very considerable depth and substance. Quite relaxed at first and very clean and bright on the finish. Spherical in form with quite a broad frame and excellent precision. That gives lots of space and scope for the succulent and sapid berry fruits to play with – their freshness bringing a whirlpool-like momentum and dynamism to the midst of the mid-palate. Nice high menthol, eucalyptus and Szechuan peppercorns notes on the finish. Excellent. 95-97.

 

Trottevieille (St-Emilon; 53% Cabernet Franc; 44% Merlot; 3% Cabernet Sauvignon; 13.5% alcohol; 28 cuves for 8 hectares giving them the liberty to pick over such a long period of time and at optimal ripeness). Big, plump and plush with a lovely texture. Very broad shouldered but with a form of vertical gravitas and profundity that comes from the presence of so much Cabernet. The wild blueberries fill the space allowed them by the structure, chiselled as it from the limestone below. Violet and rose. Rose pepper corns. Cool and lithe and rippling with juicy, sapid, dark berry fruits. Really succulent and refreshing, vivid, vibrant and quite energetic. There’s impressive density too. Full, but oh so fresh. The limestone tannins grip the fruit and pull it back to the spine, giving this an hourglass-shaped structure that has the same effect on my cheeks – so this almost finishes on a light, aerial whistle, leaving just the taste of grape skins. Picked like a Sauternes. A fabulous wine on sparkling form in 2023. 95-97.

 

Valandraud (Saint Émilion; 84% Merlot; 8% Cabernet Sauvignon; 8% Cabernet Franc; 15% alcohol and 100% new oak; tasted at the UGCB press tasting at the Cité du Vin). Wow! This is so intense. We are really in the parfumier’s boudoir! Violet, violet essence, violet-encrusted ganache forged from the darkest molten chocolate, mocha and black cherries, black forest gateau and a hint of blueberry and cassis. Candlewax too. Plump, soft, dense and packed with crushed black cherries, this is very pure and crystalline given the sheer density of the mid-palate. Very impressive technically and very hedonistic both aromatically in the mouth. 95-97.

 

Villemaurine (Saint Émilion; 70% Merlot; 30% Cabernet Franc; a final yield of 33 hl/ha; pH 3.46; 14.5% alcohol; tasted at the UGCB press tasting at the Cité du Vin and then at the Association des Grands Crus Classés at Dassault). Saline. Peanut brittle. An interesting combination of red and darker berry fruits, though rather closer at first. With aeration, above all when tasted the second time, this is more integrated and harmonious with reassuring violet and cedar notes and a slightly darker berry fruit (as one expects here). Strange on the palate, but again less so when re-tasted. Texturally very impressive with hyper-fine grained tannins, but maybe a little monotone. That said, I do love the subtle hint of mint and cassis from the Cabernet that comes through as if from the depths towards the finish. I’ll be keen to re-taste this. 90-92

 

Vieux Chateau Mazerat (Saint Émilion; 90% Merlot; 10% Cabernet Franc; a final yield of 34 hl/ha; aged in oak barrels, 80% of which are new; from Jonathan Maltus; Thomas Duclos is the new consultant here). A new label has this more closely resembling Le Dôme. Rich, creamy, but lifted and bright aromatically, with oodles of perfectly ripe black cherries and a little wild blueberry and cassis, dark chocolate, mocha and a hint of black liquorice. This is bold and punchy in the mouth, with considerable depth and concentration. But, despite that, it remains juicy and sapid to the finish – or almost all of the way to the finish. For if I have a minor issue here it is the very slight hint of dryness on the finish where the tannins turn just a little powdery. 92-94.