Michel Bettane and Thierry Desseauve: The opposite of powerful: refined, very subtly constructed, with the most refined tannins in Bordeaux, a texture of silk and a ravishing freshness. Alain Vauthier is a master at the summit of his art, but one knows that already... 18.5/19

Michael Schuster: Inky; vanilla cream-tinged, ripe blackberry fruit on the nose; superb middleweight balance, packed with fruit yet with no sense of excess weight—contained richness, fresh acidity, and fine tannin; mineral-infused, mouthcoating blackberry flavor; very long across the palate, and superbly persistent in scent; great finesse and class, but a relative firmness for the year which suggests it will need 8–10 years ageing. 2017–25+. 17.5+