Premier

The 2017 Chateau Haut Bages Liberal wine is dense, powerful and quite rich. This Chateau Haut Bages Liberal wine presents a beautiful aromatic freshness, a dense tannic structure as well as a rare elegance and balance. The 2017 Chateau Haut Bages Liberal wine is made from a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon (70%), Merlot (30%).

The Liberal family has headed Chateau Haut Bages Liberal since the beginning of the 18th century. Over time, these fine connoisseurs have brought together the best terroirs in Pauillac. This grand cru on the left bank of Bordeaux has been owned by the Villars family since 1983, who has restored Chateau Haut Bages Liberal to its former glory by undertaking a total reworking of their vinification tools and orienting their vineyard management towards sustainable viticulture.

94 points James Suckling
93 points Wine Spectator
92 points Wine Enthusiast

The 2019 Chateau Haut Batailley wine is an attractive, elegantly styled wine that has lots of juicy Merlot notes of black cherries, graphite, scorched earth, and spice. This Chateau Haut Batailley has a rich, medium to full-bodied, beautifully balanced, and with terrific purity on the palate, this brilliant Pauillac.

The grand vin 2018 Chateau Haut Batailley is a beauty and is comprised of 59% Cabernet Sauvignon and 41% Merlot brought up in 60% new French oak.

95 points James Suckling
95 points Jeb Dunnuck
95 points Wine Spectator

A big, powerful wine, the 2012 Chateau Haut Brion possesses stunning richness and intensity. This Chateau Haut Brion from Pessac-Léognan possesses remarkable depth and tons of raw, animal power that is going to require considerable time in bottle to soften. This Chateau Haut Brion wine is certainly one of the candidates for the wine of the vintage, with a dense purple color, classic nose of crushed rock, lead pencil shavings, black raspberry, blueberry and flowers. This is a Cellar Selection which is a powerful wine will need many years.

Chateau Haut Brion is Bordeaux oldest Grands Crus, with a wine making history dating back to the 5th century. From only 46% of the production, this is an absolutely remarkable effort from the Dillon family and their winemaking team of the two Jean-Philippes.

This 2012 Chateau Haut Brion wine has a blend of 65% Merlot, 33% Cabernet Sauvignon, 2% Cabernet Franc.

98 points Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate
96 points James Suckling
96 points Wine Enthusiast

The 2011 Chateau Kirwan wine has a dense ruby purple coloured. This Margaux wine is chunky, rich, and slightly masculine. This 2011 Chateau Kirwan wine is medium-bodied and fleshy. This Chateau Kirwan, reveals excellent extraction of fruit and flavor, sweet, but noticeable tannins and a nicely textured mouthfeel as well as finish. Eric Boissenot, the Médoc’s master oenologist, seems to have had a big influence on the style of the wine in 2011, because this Margaux third growth is very drinkable and appealing.

The 2011 Chateau Kirwan wine has a blend 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 21% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Franc and 9% Petit Verdot.

90 points James Suckling
92 points Tim Atkin MW

The 2017 Chateau Kirwan wine is a real gold standard in Margaux. The beautifully crafted bouquet is typical of a 2017 vintage Margaux, exuding pure aromas of black berries, evolving upon aeration fragrances freshly cut tobacco leaves. On the palate, the wine displays the typical mouthfeel of a Margaux wine, a velvety texture enhanced by a brilliant acidity that stretches into an elegant and fresh finish.

The Chateau Kirwan wine confirms the position of the property among the greatest of the appellation. With its freshness, elegance and balance, the 2017 Chateau Kirwan wine displays a style faithful to the signature of the estate.

The Chateau Kirwan is situated on the top of the beautiful Cantenac plateau, Chateau Kirwan is one of the most celebrated references of the prestigious Margaux appellation, on the Left Bank of Bordeaux. Under the leadership of talented Managing Director Philippe Delfaut, this superb estate with an Irish name has in recent years undergone a great modernisation and restructuring project.

95 points Wine Enthusiast
93 points James Suckling
92 points Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate

The 2018 Chateau Kirwan wine has a deep garnet purple in color. This Margaux wine gives intense, lifted scents of kirsch, black raspberries and warm cassis with nuances of rose hip tea, tar, fragrant earth and wild sage. This Chateau Kirwan wine has a full-bodied palate delivers a great intensity of vibrant fruit with loads of earthy nuances and a firm, fine-grained frame, finishing long and perfumed. The 2018 vintage will be remembered at Chateau Kirwan, as a magnificent Grand Cru Classe located in the prestigious Margaux appellation, on the left bank of Bordeaux.

The Blending Cabernet Sauvignon (43%), Merlot (29%, Cabernet Franc (15%) and Petit Verdot (13%), the 2018 Chateau Kirwan wine presents a magnificent, exuberant personality in a wine of great richness, while maintaining a perfect balance. The 2018 Chateau Kirwan wine is a wonderful Margaux offering great promise for the future.

96 points Wine Enthusiast
94 points Wine Spectator
93 points James Suckling

The 2019 Chateau Kirwan wine has a deep garnet purple in color. This Chateau Kirwan offers a quintessential Margaux bouquet with vivid black and blue fruit laced with crushed violets, a sensual and generous nose that will please many. The palate is medium-bodied with fleshy rounded tannins, one of the texturally creamiest within the Margaux appelation. This elegant wine reveals a persistent and delicious finish.

Chosen as a 3rd Classified Growth of Margaux during the great classification of Médoc wines in 1855, Chateau Kirwan has belonged to the Schÿler family since 1925. The dynamic Philippe Delfaut has endowed the estate with new infrastructures and elevated it to the height of its appellation. Chateau Kirwan today belongs to the elite circle of Margaux Grands Crus.

This 2019 Chateau Kirwan wine has a blend of 59 % Cabernet Sauvignon, 28 % Merlot, 6 % Cabernet-franc, 6 % Petit Verdot, 1 % Carmenère.

97 points Wine Enthusiast
95 points James Suckling
93 points Decanter

The 2014 Chateau L’Angelus Grand Cru reveals a very pure and elegant wine. This Saint-Emilion Premier Grand Cru Classe A, carries a precise attack and a powerful, structured palate with a lovely balance between tannins and freshness. The Cabernet Franc which represents 50% of the blend with Merlot refines the tannic structure, brings elegance.

The Cabernet adds the complexity of 2014 Angelus, leading to a persistent finish. This L’Angelus wine has craftsmanship and terroir-expression here and it should drink well for two decades. The Chateau L’Angelus Grand Cru 2014 is a real head-turner!

Chateau Angelus has one of the longest histories in the St. Emilion appellation. The de Bouard family has an even longer history in the region. In fact, the de Bouard family has been in Bordeaux since 1544, according to family archives. In 1626 the de Bouard family began buying land in the Dordogne where they eventually settled. Chateau Angelus has been considered one of the top estates in the entire Right Bank.

This Chateau L’Angelus Grand Cru 2014 has a blend of 62% Merlot and 38% Cabernet Franc.

James Suckling : 96 Points
Robert Parker : 93 Points
Wine Spectator : 95 Points

A gorgeous second wine, the 2016 Chateau La Dame de Montrose is incredibly expressive today. Supple, radiant and inviting, La Dame Montrose has all the potential to be an overachiever in this vintage. Today, it is quite open, and, even more importantly, flat-out delicious. In some moments, La Dame wine is rather nuanced, while at other times it is a bit more potent. It will be interesting to see what aging in bottle brings, but one thing is certain; the 2016 La Dame De Montrose is a stellar wine.

This 2016 Chateau La Dame de Montrose has a blend of 52% Merlot, 35% Cabernet Sauvignon, and the rest Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot, aged in 30% new oak. Drink from 2023.

93 points James Suckling
93 points Jeb Dunnuck
93 points Vinous

The 2018 Chateau La Dominique wine tasting more like a great Pomerol than a Saint-Emilion. This 2018 Chateau La Dominique is a knockout winner in this great vintage and should be snatched up by readers. It reveals a dense purple hue as well as gorgeous notes of crème de cassis, ripe black cherries, spring flowers, damp earth, and truffle. These carry to a full-bodied, sweetly fruited, sexy 2018 vintage with incredible purity, a solid spine of acidity (the pH is 3.65), ultra-fine tannins, a great finish.

Blending Merlot (85%), Cabernet Franc (12%) and Cabernet Sauvignon (3%), the Chateau La Dominique 2018 expresses the typicality of a Saint-Émilion Grand Cru Classé from a great Bordeaux vintage.

96 points Jeb Dunnuck
95 points James Suckling
95 points Wine Enthusiast

This 2009 Chateau La Fleur Petrus wine offers a deep, layered bouquet of blackberries, plums, chocolate, dried flowers, and earth. This Pomerol wine is a big, voluptuous, opulent example of this cuvée, with a power-packed, deep, rich style. This red wine has ripe tannin and a huge finish. Just across the road from Pétrus, la Fleur-Pétrus shares some of the same intensity. Drink this sensational wine anytime over the coming 2-3 decades.

The 2009 Chateau La Fleur Petrus wine has a blend of 90/10 Merlot and Cabernet Franc aged in 50% new oak. This tour de force shows how impressive the 2009 vintage was for Bordeaux.

97 points Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate
97 points Wine Spectator
96 points Wine Enthusiast

The 2019 Chateau La Gurgue wine is a classic, restrained style of Margaux, with a fresh floral edge, and a gentle raspberry and redcurrant feel to the fruit, given welcome depth on the finish by spiced rosemary and pepper. Slightly higher sand in the soil at this location in Soussans, which means it lacks a little of the concentration you find in the excellent sibling estate Ferrrière.

The Chateau Gurgue situated in the Bordeaux appellation of Margaux is a Cru Bourgeois estate, that produced a fairly decent wine until the arrival of Bernadette Villars in 1979. This transformation of the Chateau started with the introduction of modern equipment, and the replanting of old plots. Ten years later fifty great wine tasters, reunited for the “Essay on the Margaux style” chose it as one of the ten benchmark Margaux wines, together with eight Grands Crus Classés and one Cru Bourgeois.

This 2019 Chateau La Gurgue wine is composed of 40% in concrete tanks/eggs and 60% in barrels. 54% cabernet sauvignon, 40% merlot and 6% petit verdot.

93 Points Vinous Media
93 Points Wine Enthusiast
93 Points Decanter

The 2006 Chateau Lafite Rothschild is a great, great wine made from a blend of 82% Cabernet Sauvignon, 16% Merlot, and 2% Petit Verdot. The Lafite’s severe selection process (42% made it into the grand vin) resulted in a full-bodied wine boasting an extraordinary perfume of charcoal, truffles, lead pencil shavings, and sensationally sweet, ripe black currant and cedar notes. This 1er Grand Cru Classé wine has a extraordinary intensity, texture, and depth with silky tannins as well as awesome concentration, this has turned out to be a remarkable Lafite Rothschild.

Wine Enthusiast:
Outer quote mark As so often with Lafite, it is power that marks this wine. That, and density of texture. The additional element in this vintage, and at this stage of the wine’s development, is a dominant wood element. The vanilla and tannins from the wood match well with the concentrated tannins of the fruit, which is dark, dense and tight. This is a wine for long-term aging: in 15 years this will have superb richness. This 2006 Chateau Lafite Rothschild wine is a Cellar Selection.

96 points Wine Enthusiast
95 points Decanter
95 points James Suckling

The 2007 Chateau Lafite Rothschild 1er cru classé wine has a ripe red fruit nose is closed at first, then full and round. Following the history of the vintage, this Pauillac wine is lighter than usual and will likely open up sooner. It is important to note the elegant style, which seduces both the nose and the palate. The pleasant tactile effects of creamy tannins gently tickle the palate with well integrated wood and the finish. Aficionados will enjoy opening this 2007 Chateau Lafite Rothschild wine earlier than usual.

Wine Advocate-Parker :
Tasted at BI Wine & Spirits’ 10-Years-On tasting, the 2007 Chateau Lafite Rothschild has an elegant cigar box bouquet, with dusky black fruit and a touch of antique bureau–just classic Lafite. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannin, cedar and tobacco infusing the black fruit, classic in style with a conservative yet focused finish that lingers in the mouth. This is certainly the most subtle First Growth, but one of the most refined too a sophisticated but understated Chateau Lafite Rothschild wine that will age with discrete style.

This 2007 Chateau Lafite Rothschild 1er cru classé wine has a blend of 84% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Merlot, and 1% Petit Verdot.

94 points Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate
94 points Wine Enthusiast
91 points Wine Spectator

The 2008 Chateau Lafite Rothschild 1er cru classé wine has a very deep, almost opaque purple colour. The bouquet is quite similar to the Duhart: a little sulky and timid at this stage, although it always takes longer to emerge than other Pauillacs. Blackberry leaf, a touch of tobacco and graphite, almost conservative at the moment. After a couple of minutes, those fruits begin to emerge with blackberry, a touch of scorched leather, Christmas cake and all spice. The palate is very well structured, firm tannins, good acidity and a wonderful crescendo. This Chateau Lafite Rothschild wine is very fresh on the finish, subtle oak, unfurling with the passing minutes. The 2008 Chateau Lafite Rothschild wine is an Outstanding.

The 2008 Chateau Lafite Rothschild wine has a blend of 83% Cabernet Sauvignon, 13% Merlot and 4% Cabernet Franc.

98 points Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate
97 points Decanter
97 points Wine Enthusiast

In the glass, 2012 Chateau Lafite Rothschild wine presents a beautiful structure that is very precise with present tannins and a ripeness that is associated with freshness and precise acidity. This is the general impression that we have when the wine in the mouth. It allows us to understand that it is truly is a great wine from a great terroir. This 2012 Chateau Lafite Rothschild is truly magical to see that regardless of the reputation of the vintage with the help of scientific developments which we enjoyed for the past few years we get results that are extraordinary.

The 2012 Chateau Lafite Rothschild wine is a Cellar Selection. Showing the serious side of Lafite, this is big and dark, powered by tannins as much as fruit. The wood aging is still showing, although that will integrate into the great structure that holds up the ripe black currant fruits. This Lafite Rothschild is totally dominated by some of the finest Cabernet Sauvignon in Bordeaux, this wine has strength while also having great freshness. Drink from 2024.

96 points Wine Enthusiast
95 points James Suckling
94 points Wine Spectator