Michel Bettane and Thierry Desseauve | A complete wine, rivaling the first growths. Noble licorice notes, with more roundness than Barton or Las-Cases, linked to a higher proportion of Merlot in the blend. Tasted three times. | 95

Michael Schuster | Perfumed and fine to smell, lightly gravelly with a hint of fine new-wood fragrance; rich, polished, poised, very fine in tannin, subtly fresh, a really beautiful balance. Sweet in flavor, yet still so fresh, superfine in texture, pure, almost transparent in character, refined (as of old!), very long to taste, great length of both fruit and aroma on the finish. Enormous class and refinement, delicacy without weakness, so complete, a real beauty. This is almost Burgundian in its finesse, and a wine that will give enormous pleasure to the lucky owners. A wonderful wine with which to crown Didier Cuvelier’s nearly 40-year management tenure, as he now hands over to his cousin and co-owner Sara Lecompte-Cuvelier for the 2018 vintage. It has always been my view that Poyferré is, at its best (and as the most natural reflection of the terroir?), the most refined of the Léovilles—and if proof were needed, this vintage provides it. 2028–50+. | 94–95