Andrew Jefford | Heading for midnight black: the darkest of the three top St-Estèphes. First bottle: Corked (!). Second bottle: Rich, warm, deeply savory and beguiling, though so different from its peers that it almost seems as if it comes from another vintage: there’s a width and a breadth to the aromas, a fat cream, a hint of bacon, a slabby fleshiness, a Zanzibar spice... It smells like a wine inspired by the winery doors. On the palate, we are back with the vintage to a greater extent; it has lots of freshness, vigor, vim, and structuring acidity. (The acids are more apparent as you sip than the tannins.) In terms of concentration, too, it is a show-stopper; it’s a more evidently “concentrated” wine than either Calon or Montrose. There are lots of spices, and very fine tannins, even if they sit behind the acidity. My only hesitation is that the fruit seems to get a little bit lost in all of that; the fruit as central core of the wine is more apparent in both enticing Calon and grave, serious Montrose. This, though, may be an effect of youth; it is there if you look, or the wine would have an empty middle, which it doesn’t. A very fine effort for the vintage. 2019–30. | 95

Michael Schuster | Complex and aromatic to smell, freshly ripe Cabernet and subtle gravel-mineral on the nose; rich, fresh to lively, concentrated, finely and firmly tannic wine, a fine, long-term constitution; deep, concentrated flavor, youthfully austere in texture, but long and aromatic across the palate, and very long and aromatic to finish; a fine and complete 2014, a great expression of St-Estèphe. Will need a decade in bottle—ideally 2030–45+. | 95