Premier

One of the finest Pauillacs of 2018, this Chateau Lynch Bages is a Cellar Selection. This 2018 Chateau Lynch Bages has everything you look for in a great wine. It’s incredible aromatics, richness without weight, perfect balance, and a purity of fruit that’s just about off the charts. Dense purple, it reveals a glorious perfume of blackcurrants and blackberry fruits, a deep, unctuous mouthfeel, building tannins, and a complex array of cedar pencil, tobacco, wood smoke, and chocolate. A true blockbuster in every sense, with masses of fruit and tannins as well as moderate acidity,

Blending Cabernet Sauvignon (72%), Merlot (19%), Cabernet Franc (6%) and Petit Verdot (3%), the Chateau Lynch-Bages 2018 offers wine a magnificent expression of the terroir of Pauillac. On the nose, the vintage seduces with notes of dark chocolate and spice. The powerful palate coats the mouth with its great breadth and generosity, structured by deliciously silky tannins. A certain freshness also presents itself and continues into a very persistent finish. A great vintage for Chateau Lynch Bages.

98 points Jeb Dunnuck
97 points James Suckling
97 points Wine Spectator
96 points Decanter

The 2018 Chateau Lynch Moussas wine is a fine Pauillac and has a pretty, classic, elegant style that’s very much in the character of the vintage. This 2018 Lynch Moussas is super-expressive and very nicely woven together. Bright red berry fruit, floral notes and silky tannins give the wine striking persistence to match its understated personality. All the elements are impeccably balanced in a wine that is so harmonious and elegant in the early going.

Arnaud Durand, technical director since 2003, learnt under Denis Dubourdieu and they now work with Axel Marchal as consultant. A Grand Cru Classé of Pauillac, located on the left bank of Bordeaux, Château Lynch-Moussas has produced a brilliant 2018 vintage. This 2018 Chateau Lynch Moussas wine has a Blend of 72% Cabernet Sauvignon and 28% Merlot.

94 points James Suckling
94 points Wine Enthusiast
94 points Vinous

The 2012 Chateau Margaux wine is a Cellar Selection. This Chateau Margaux wine has a taut, linear, pencil lead-infused bouquet with pure blackberry and boysenberry scents, an undercurrent of tobacco that surfaces after five minutes in the glass. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannin, crisp acidity, a life-affirming sense of balance with well-integrated new oak towards the finish. The 2012 Chateau Margaux has become more structured and masculine in bottle, yet there is pedigree here from start to finish, a sense of effortlessness that is seductive. This elegant red wine is very much in the classic style of Margaux.

This First Classified Growth of 1855 benefits from vines planted on an outcrop of gravel, which is characteristic of the appellation. This 2012 Chateau Margaux wine has a blend of 87% Cabernet Sauvignon and the rest mostly Merlot, as well as only 33% of their harvest.

95 points Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate
95 points Wine Enthusiast
95 points Wine Spectator

The 2011 Chateau Montrose wine from Saint-Estèphe appellation shows a deep garnet hue. The nose exudes lightly aniseed currant with very delicate wood. This 2011 Chateau Montrose wine offers lovely length, medium-body, and red fruits that lead to a supple finish with ripe yet precise tannins. The high concentration of Cabernet Franc creates a supple structure. Very nicely balanced Montrose wine. This 2011 Chateau Montrose is a Cellar Selection wine it has power, severity and complexity.

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

The 2012 Chateau Montrose wine has a deep ruby-red. This Saint Estèphe wine has floral, mineral nose hints at fresh blackcurrant, but this sample seems tight and closed down currently. On the palate, somewhat strict and linear flavors of blackcurrant and wet stone are lifted by a repeating note of violet. The finish is long and clean but could use more flesh.

This 2012 Chateau Montrose wine is a classic Bordeaux. Produced in the magnificent new cellars at Montrose, this big, tannic wine is powerful and concentrated. It has something of the classic severity of a wine from this estate, but that’s mitigated by the ripe, generous blackberry fruitiness and the final freshness of a 2012. This 2012 Chateau Montrose wine is a Cellar Selection.

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

The 2015 Chateau Montrose is without question one of the standout wines of the vintage. This sumptuous, powerful wine has a great sense of structure and tannins. This 2015 Chateau Montrose is a certainly the wine of Saint-Estèphe. Notes of cassis, damp earth, violets, and graphite and lead pencil notes all flow to a beautifully pure, elegant and multi-dimensional 2015 that has fine, polished tannin, perfect balance, and a great finish.

This 2015 Chateau Montrose is a blend of 67% Cabernet Sauvignon, 29% Merlot and 4% Cabernet Franc, all of which was brought up in 65% new oak.

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

The 2012 Chateau Mouton Rothschild 1er cru classe is powerful, impressive wine is comprised of 90% Cabernet Sauvignon. One of the top ten wines of the vintage, this 2012 Chateau Mouton Rothschild has a deep ruby color and perfumed nose of red berries, cassis, flint, vanilla and peppery spices. This Mouton Rothschild wine is seriously structured, with loads of black currants and dark tannin, and revels on the finish with the juicy, fresh acidity of this vintage. The palate is beautifully balanced with great vim and vigor.

A fine Mouton Rothschild, this is the first vintage produced in the chateau’s new cellar. For Chateau Mouton Rothschild wine, the 2012 vintage was year was full of contrasts. A cold and dry winter was followed by an unreliable spring and an exceedingly dry summer. The harvest began on October 1 and ended on October 15. 2012 will be a historic year as the new cellars, after almost three years of work, welcomed its first harvest.

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

The 2014 Chateau Palmer wine builds on the promise that it showed in barrel. This 2014 Chateau Palmer wine is a Cellar Selection. It is clearly a more understated and nuanced Palmer from winemaker Thomas Duroux this year, but a Margaux with exquisite delineation and precision, hints of blackberry, boysenberry and a touch of pencil box. The palate is medium-bodied with very fine tannin. It feels supple and lithe in the mouth. It will not have the depth and power of the subsequent 2015 Palmer, yet the flow is very sensual and the Merlot (45% of the blend) just lends it roundness and a caressing texture. What a beautiful Margaux wine and I bet it will be deceptively long-lived.

The 2014 Chateau Palmer wine is up with the crème de la crème of the vintage and should merit an even higher score in 5-7 years. The 2014 Chateau Palmer wine has a blend of 49% Cabernet Sauvignon, 45% Merlot and the rest Petit Verdot brought up in 65%.

97 points Wine Enthusiast
95 points James Suckling
94 points Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate

The 2015 Chateau Palmer is a wine of total refinement and class. This Margaux wine has all the elements are wonderfully meshed together, as they always have been from the very start. This 2015 Chateau Palmer wine has a dark black cherry, plum, mocha, licorice, spice and leather notes are all seamless in the glass. The tannins are present, but they are silky and pretty much buried by the sheer luxuriousness of the fruit. An excellent vintage overall in the appellation and a brilliant Palmer. This 2015 Chateau Palmer wine is a Cellar Selection. Drink from 2027.

The 2015 Chateau Palmer wine was bottled relatively late in mid-September 2017, the 2015 Palmer is a blend of 44% Merlot and 50% Cabernet Sauvignon with a small portion of Petit Verdot. Medium to deep garnet-purple colored, it offers vibrant red currants, black cherries, wild blueberries, earth and mineral characteristics to begin, with slowly unfurling floral notes of violets and dried roses plus compelling baker’s chocolate and fragrant earth layers. Medium to full-bodied, generously fruited and possessing firm yet very, very fine-grained, mind-blowingly ripe tannins, the multifaceted palate features something of a skip in its step in terms of freshness, while it goes beguilingly earthy on the finish with some mineral hints. Very classy, elegant and sophisticated, this vintage is downright regal in its juxtaposition between poise and audaciousness. Think 2005 Palmer with a tick more fruit intensity, perfume and passion.

100 points James Suckling
98 points Decanter
98 points Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate

One of the wines of the vintage on the Left Bank, the 2017 Chateau Palmer wine is fresh and vibrant, with tons of energy. Veins of supporting salinity and floral overtones lend grace to the Grand Vin in 2017. The Grand Vin of the eponymous estate, the 2017 Chateau Palmer yet again confirms the excellence of its rank, having become one of the must-have’s of the Bordeaux wine market.

With a blend dominated by Merlot (54%), complemented by Cabernet Sauvignon (42%) and Petit Verdot (4%), Chateau Palmer 2017 clearly illustrates the philosophy of the estate. Perfectly balanced without being too overwhelming, this wine seduces with its harmony on the palate, developing an aromatic intensity upon a precise frame that reveals the softness of melted tannins. Bearing a unique and already magnificent style, the 2017 Chateau Palmer wine evolve remarkable over time, offering the kind of noble depth to which only the greatest Grands Crus hold the secret.

98 points James Suckling
97 points Wine Advocate
96 points Vinous

The 2014 Chateau Petit Figeac Grand Cru Classe wine is an elegant, very delicate, delicious and deep, distinguished, seductive wine. A neighbour of Cheval Blanc, Figeac, with its 40 hectares of vines, today remains the largest estate of the Saint-Émilion commune. The 2014 Chateau Petit-Figeac is laced with the essence of sweet dark cherry, plum, tobacco, mint, licorice and leather. Pliant, supple and expressive, it is a highly appealing second wine. The second wine of Chateau Figeac is a worthy reflection of its older sibling. Hailing from the exceptional terroir of Chateau Figeac, Saint-Émilion Premier Grand Cru Classé, Petit-Figeac is produced by the same teams, under the direction of Frédéric Faye.

92 points Wine Enthusiast
91 points James Suckling

The 2015 Chateau Petit Figeac wine is very powerful with lots of dark chocolate and blueberry character. The medium to deep garnet purple colored 2015 Petit Figeac wine reveals notes of warm cherries, red currant jelly, aniseed and forest floor with touches of wild blueberries and blackberries. This St-Emilion wine is medium-bodied, very finely crafted, elegant and refreshing. This Petit Figeac wine fills the mouth with open-knit red and black fruits, finishing with a velvety texture paving the way.

This 2015 Chateau Petit Figeac wine is composed of 32% Merlot, 48% Cabernet Sauvignon and 20% Cabernet Franc.

93 points James Suckling
93 points Wine Enthusiast
91 points Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate

Medium to deep garnet-purple in color, the 2015 Chateau Pichon Baron Longueville wine is enticingly scented of chocolate-covered cherries, crushed red currants and mulberries with touches of baking spices, potpourri and bay leaves plus a hint of fallen leaves. Sumptuously elegant, refreshing and medium-bodied with gorgeous, expressive, perfumed red fruits and very fine, very firm tannins, it has a persistent, perfumed finish. Its remarkable intensity, freshness and very firm frame suggest a long-lived Pichon Baron, which should cellar gracefully for 30+ years.

Reminding me of the 1990, the 2015 Chateau Pichon Baron Longueville is a sensational bottle of wine made from 80% Cabernet Sauvignon and 20% Merlot that spent 18 months in 80% new French oak.

97 points Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate
95 points Decanter
94 points Wine Spectator

The 2016 Chateau Pichon Longueville wine is a beauty. This 2016 Chateau Pichon Longueville wine has a blend of 85% Cabernet Sauvignon and 15% Merlot that was brought up in 80% new French oak. Tasting like a hypothetical mix of the 2009 and 2010, its deep purple color is followed by a powerful yet sensationally pure bouquet of crème de cassis, blackberries, lead pencil shavings, and graphite, and is just about as quintessentially Pauillac as it gets. Full-bodied, fleshy and even a touch flamboyant, it has sweet tannins and a monster texture that coats the palate. Count me in as a huge fan. This Chateau Pichon Longueville is a fabulous wine will be relatively approachable in just 3-5 years but will age for 30 years or more. Drink 2022-2052.

The 2015 Chateau Pontet Canet has a vindication of Jean-Michel Comme’s obsession with detail. A true Pauillac powerhouse, with a super-ripe dark cherry, plum, spice and exotic floral notes build as the 2015 shows off its alluring personality. This red wine has succulent fruits, rich tannins and juicy acidity are in perfect harmony in this wine produced from biodynamic grapes. This 2015 Chateau Pontet Canet is a Cellar Selection wine.

This 2015 Chateau Pontet Canet is made of 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot and the rest Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot brought up in 50% new oak, and 35% in amphora. Anticipated maturity: 2022 – 2045.

98 points James Suckling
97 points Decanter
97 points Wine Enthusiast

The 2018 Chateau Pontet Canet is a Cellar Selection wine. This 2018 Chateau Pontet Canet wine has a deep garnet-purple color. In the glass you get a richly nuanced and aromatic glass of Pontet. Plum, gooseberry, cassis, rosemary, violet, tobacco leaf, sage and white pepper.

This 2018 vintage has a rich, seductive, full-bodied palate is a hedonist’s dream, delivering layer-upon-layer of black and red berry preserves with loads of fragrant accents, a beautifully firm yet plush texture and tons of freshness, finishing long with a whole firework display of exotic spices.

This Pauillac wine was matured in new oak barrels (55%) while the rest of the ageing was done in concrete amphora (45%). It is made from a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon (70%), Merlot (22%), Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot (3%).

98 points James Suckling
98 points Wine Advocate
98 points Wine Enthusiast