Sylviane Garcin-Cathiard, who also owns Clos l`Église in Pomerol, bought this estate in 2000 and rebuilt it, winning Grand Cru Classé status in 2012. Seventeen hectares form a south-facing amphitheatre on Saint-Émilion`s eastern edge at Saint-Christophe-des-Bardes, shallow clay over limestone, beside Troplong-Mondot. Planted roughly 75% Merlot, 25% Cabernet Franc.
An 1855 fifth growth at Saint-Laurent, divided from Saint-Julien only by a stream, on deep gravel. The estate declined after the Second World War until Dourthe took over management in 1979, so this 1988 comes from the early years of its renovation. The name reputedly honours London`s Belgravia, after an English owner.
The estate dates to 1544 and now belongs to Jean-Hubert Delon of Léoville Las Cases, who inherited it from his grandmother. This second wine was created in 2002 and takes its name from the village chapel where the bottles are stored. Vines sit on a limestone hill with clay-gravel slopes in the northern Médoc. Current blend: 56% Merlot, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon, 13% Cabernet Franc, 1% Petit Verdot.
The Trapaud family settled here in the late 15th century, and Georges Larribière bought the estate in 1927, when it had four hectares. Fourth-generation Béatrice Larribière now farms 25 hectares, 18 in one block at Saint-Étienne-de-Lisse, on limestone-clay slopes mixed with sandy loam, a few kilometres from Pavie. Organic since 2009.
Consultant Stéphane Derenoncourt, who has advised Smith Haut Lafitte and Clos Fourtet, bought his first 2.5 hectares in Castillon with his wife Christine in 1999. It has grown to around ten hectares in twelve plots, on south-facing clay, limestone and sandstone, farmed organically and biodynamically without certification. Roughly 70% Merlot, 30% Cabernet Franc. James Suckling gave the 2015 92 and the 2014 93.
A Roman, Figeacus, gave the estate its name, and it once ran to 200 hectares; in the 1830s a 30-hectare plot was sold off and became Cheval Blanc. Thierry Manoncourt championed its three gravel hills and their Cabernet: 35% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Cabernet Franc, 30% Merlot across roughly 40 hectares. Promoted to the top Saint-Émilion rank in 2022.
Created in 1992 when Jean-Claude Rouzaud of Champagne Louis Roederer merged two Saint-Estèphe Cru Bourgeois properties, Picard and Beauséjour. Roederer sold it in 2017 to Pierre Rousseau, owner of Laffitte-Carcasset. The vineyard is now about 10 hectares of gravel and clay with some limestone, planted 56% Merlot, 39% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Petit Verdot. James Suckling gave the 2016 92 points, finding enough cassis fruit, smoke and minty freshness" to carry its structure."
Winemaking here dates to the 1500s, and Lazarist priests took over the estate in 1682. Frédéric Woltner bought it in 1919, and the Dillon family of Haut-Brion has owned it since 1983. Since 2006 this second wine has absorbed all the fruit from the former Tour Haut-Brion vineyard. The 2008 blend is 56% Cabernet Sauvignon, 39% Merlot and 5% Cabernet Franc. The Wine Advocate gave the 2008 91 points, calling it another stunning effort.
Tasted at the UGC in London. There is a sense of exuberance on the nose: black berries, wild strawberry, cedar, a touch of Asian spice coming through. Great lift and intensity. The palate is medium-bodied, ripe black fruits, good structure with a firm, quite masculine finish with just a hint of tobacco and spice. Very good for the vintage. Classy. Drink 2011-2020. Tasted November 2009." 91 Points Neal Martin"
A Saint-Estèphe Cru Bourgeois owned by the Cuvelier family, who also own Léoville Poyferré in Saint-Julien. Gravel and clay soils and a Cabernet and Merlot blend give a classic, firm Saint-Estèphe. Decanter gave the 2010 90 points for its vigour, structure and good spicy grip.
Thierry Manoncourt of Figeac bought this tiny Saint-Émilion property in 1942, while serving in the army. Under a hectare, planted 95% Merlot and 5% Cabernet Franc, it was made for family drinking for decades and now yields about 4,000 bottles a year. Vinous called it exquisite.
1988 is a vintage of good, but hardly remarkable ripeness, and in the context of all the other stellar vintages in this decade in Bordeaux, it stands out a bit stylistically. However, at least with the Pichon-Lalande, the 1988 is hardly a weak link and the wine is outstanding in its very classical styling and proportions. The bouquet offers up a lovely, cool fruit blend of cassis, dark berries, menthol, tobacco leaf, gravel, cigar smoke and a judicious foundation of toasty new oak. On the palate the wine is fullish, pure and impeccably balanced, with a good solid core, melting tannins and fine focus and grip on the long, complex and very classy finish. This does not have the exotic topnotes of a sunnier vintage, but it has a lovely base of Pichon’s inimitable terroir and has no cause to apologize for anything! Fine, fine juice cut from an utterly classical cloth and a dramatically underrated vintage of Pichon-Lalande` 92 Points John Gilman
An old Pauillac property once held by the De Gerès family, bought by Gabriel Meffre in 1958 and run since 2000 by his son Claude, a former journalist. About 30 hectares of siliceous gravel on a plateau opposite Pontet-Canet, with 30-year-old vines planted roughly half Merlot, half Cabernet Sauvignon. Neal Martin gave the 2014 90 points.
The estate sits on the edge of the Marais de Reysson near Vertheuil and ranked among the best local Cru Bourgeois until Alfred Dreyfus`s heirs sold it in the early 20th century. Dourthe has managed it since 2001 and bought it in 2014. Fifty-four hectares of clay and limestone full of fossil shells, planted mostly to Merlot.
This is a delicious, textural rendition of Tertre Roteboeuf that wears its heart on its sleeve, coating the palate with black cherry, spice, coffee, tar and melted dark chocolate. Supple, ripe and expansive, with nicely refined, detail tannins. One of the successes of this difficult right bank year" 90 Points Willliam Kelley"
`Deep garnet-brick in color, the 2014 Vieux Chateau Certan is a little shy to start, offering up faint notes of candied violets and licorice opening out to a core of preserved plums and Christmas cake plus a waft of sandalwood. The full-bodied palate delivers a refreshing backbone and fine-grained tannins to support the taut, powerful black fruits, finishing long and earthy.` 97 Points Lisa Perotti-Brown
`Gothic wine" was the comment of Alexandre Thienpont on the 2017 vintage of Vieux Chateau Certan. The blend this year is 80% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Franc, and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon and the color is deep garnet-purple. It needs a lot of shaking to wake up notes of Morello cherries, black raspberries, tar, and licorice, with emerging scents of plum preserves, black truffles, and crushed rocks, plus a hint of candied violets. Medium to full-bodied, the palate is tightly knit with loads of densely wound layers and fantastic freshness, supported by very fine-grained tannins, finishing long and mineral-laced. It should be very long lived!` 98 Points Lisa Perotti-Brown"
A Saint-Émilion Grand Cru Classé on the gravelly plateau close to Figeac and the Pomerol border. A Merlot-led blend with Cabernet Franc, from an estate whose reputation rests on ripe, polished right-bank claret. Twenty-seven years old.
