100 James Suckling - Jamessuckling.com

Gorgeous aromas of dark plums and violets. Orange peel, too. Some crushed stone. Bark. Stems. Iron shavings. Full-bodied, but very tight and compacted. The tannins are all here making it very structured, yet they are polished and melted together. Needs years to show all of its greatness. Incredible polish and structure. More structured than the 2019. Try after 2030 and beyond.

100 Jane Anson - Inside Bordeaux

This has grip and poise, it edges forward with slate textured tannins, not givin too much away at first, but sit with it, because the future brilliance of this Margaux is there to be seen if you take your time. It displays a seriousness of intent that sets it apart in expression from vintages like the 2018, and has dense and powerful red and black fruits along with supple and plentiful tannins that have no intention of relinquishing their hold for decades to come. Gingerbread, liqourice root, grilled sandalwood, red peppers, mint leaf and peony flowers add waves of complexity as it widens and softens through the mid palate, along with raspberry puree and edges of patisserie cream. A Margaux for the ages. 100% new oak, 36hl/h yield after the dry summer.

100 Jonathan Choukroun - Vert de Vin

On the nose, distinguished, fine, fruity, offering power (in finesse and fullness), a very nice finesse in its richness and in its grain, an airy power, freshness, excellence as well as a nice depth and width of the aromatic palette.Notes of bright boysenberry, pulpy cassis and more lightly cornflower, violet, strawberry associated with touches of bourbon vanilla, lilac, saffron, star anise as well as discrete points of black tea and a subtle hint of hazelnut.The palate is fruity, elegant, delicate, powerful, nicely defined and offers depth, finesse, tension in delicacy, richness in subtlety/finesse, excellence, fullness, harmony, sapidity, energy as well as silkiness and an airy character in the balances. Nice mid-palate with an aspect of multi – layering. On the palate, expressing notes of pulpy/juicy blackberry, bright raspberry and more lightly bright cassis combined with touches of bright red currants, hints of pulpy/juicy blueberry, cornflower/lily, star anise as well as discreet hints of tonka bean, chocolate, toasted hazelnut and a subtle touch of black tea. The tannins are elegant, soft and polished. Presence of an imperceptible hint of Bourbon vanilla pod, white flowers and toast on the finish/persistence. A very nice persistence. A wine filled with a classical style in its noblest sense. Congratulations!

97-99 Lisa Perrotti-Brown - Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

The 2020 Château Margaux is composed of 89% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Merlot, 1% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot, accounting for 36% of the harvest. The alcohol weighs in at 13.5%, the IPT is 80 and the pH is 3.67. Displaying an opaque purple-black color, it needs a lot of air, time and patience to coax out the youthfully reticent nose of blueberry preserves, blackcurrant pastilles and Black Forest cake, followed by suggestions of lavender, clove oil, iron ore and menthol with wafts of star anise and candied violets. The medium to full-bodied palate is wonderfully opulent, featuring tightly wound yet beautifully pure layers of black fruits and earthy nuances within a solid structure of firm yet velvety tannins and exhilarating freshness, finishing with very long-lingering earth and mineral notes. Another stunning expression of the vintage by Philippe Bascaules and his team—bravo!

99 Jeff Leve - The Wine Cellar Insider

It is the elegance of the wine, silkiness in the tannins, and the purity in the fruits that form the character in this wine. On the palate, you find layers of sweet, refined, cherries, red plums, and black raspberries tasting like they were picked at the perfect moment and eaten in the vineyard. Texturally, the wine is incredible. The fruits are velvety, creamy, fresh, long, and rich. Everything is in balance and harmony. The finish is seamless giving you a wine that is effortless to taste. The wine blends 89% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Merlot, 2% Petit Verdot, and 1% Cabernet Franc, 13.5% ABV, 3.68 Ph. Drink from 2030-2060

99 Lisa Perrotti-Brown - The Wine Independent

The 2020 Chateau Margaux is deep garnet-purple in color. After a couple of swirls, notions of blackcurrant pastilles, redcurrant jelly, and juicy black plums soar from the glass, leading to underlying suggestions of dark chocolate, candied violets, cast-iron pan, and forest floor. The medium-bodied palate is satiny smooth, vibrant, and energetic, featuring floral, mineral, and black fruit layers, finishing very long and shimmery. Cabernet Sauvignon accounts for 89% of the blend, completed by 8% Merlot, 2% Petit Verdot, and 1% Cabernet Franc.

99 Georgina Hindle - Decanter

Cool and confident, an effortless Margaux that’s a clear success in 2020. Vivid colour in the glass with a delicately perfumed nose. Smooth and graceful on the palate, silky yet rich too, deepening in layers, much more vertical than wide at this point but with clear concentration. It expands slowly but surely, really taking its time before the juicy, chewy, succulent blackcurrant, liquorice, clove, sweet spice and cooling menthol touches come forward. Nuanced and detailed with precision and clarity to the taste and overall sensation. A Margaux for the ages.

98 Antonio Galloni - Vinous

The 2020 Margaux Grand Vin is ravishing. At once refined and exuberant, Margaux beautifully captures the spirit of the vintage. Layers of dark fruit, spice, lavender, crushed flowers and leather open graciously, revealing a wine of uncommon depth and finesse. The 100% new oak is not at all perceptible. Enveloping on the palate, with striking resonance and exceptional balance, the 2020 is very clearly a great modern Margaux. It's a brilliant effort from Margaux and the team led by Managing Director Philippe Bascaules.

93 John Gilman - View from the Cellar

"The Billecart-Salmon Brut Rosé served out of magnum seemed to have just a touch more bottle age to it than the regular-sized bottle that I tasted in December, and I imagine that this is the previous year’s release of the wine, as magnums of Champagne tend to move a bit slower through the pipeline here in New York. I very much like the elegance of this bottling, which probably owes a debt to the fifty percent chardonnay in the blend. Out of magnum, the wine is drinking splendidly, offering up a complex and vibrant bouquet of melon, tangerine, wheat toast, lovely minerality, rose petals and a gentle topnote of smokiness. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, pure and very refined, with a lovely core, elegant mousse, crisp acids and a very long, focused and complex finish. I really wish Billecart would join several other serious Grandes Marques in putting dates of disgorgement on the back label, so that one could better gauge when to start popping corks on their lovely non-vintage bottlings. 2013-2025." (02/13)

92+ Luis Gutierrez - Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

The 2020 Pegaso Zeta was produced with old-vine Garnacha on granite and schist soils from a healthy vintage that was picked early, starting the 27th of August. It fermented with indigenous yeasts in oak and stainless steel vats and amphorae, and it matured in a combination of 500- and 600-liter barrels, amphorae and stainless steel vats for 12 months. It's a very harmonious vintage, expressive with bright red fruit and an herbal touch. The palate is seamless, rich but fresh, with pungent flavors and abundant, fine-grained tannins. 14,696 bottles were filled in August 2021.

93 Jeb Dunnuck - jebdunnuck.com

The 2017 Côtes Du Roussillon Villages is beautiful, with gorgeous kirsch, cassis, ground pepper, and new leather aromas and flavors. These carry to a medium to full-bodied, beautifully pure, elegant red that has fine tannins and a great finish.

95 Decanter

As the most Bordelais vintage of the new millenium, the 2011 Opus One is one that will appeal to tasters with classical sensibilities. A complex bouquet of cassis, blackberry, rich soil, tobacco leaf and cedar, with a nice framing of new oak, is followed on the palate by a savoury, well-balanced and authoritative wine with good concentration and length. 2011 was a very challenging vintage, but the team at Opus One did an excellent job indeed.

94 Vinous Media - Vinous

The 2011 Opus One comes across as quite powerful and intense. Raspberry jam, rose petals, savory herbs and mint, all come together beautifully in the glass. The tannins are going to need a few years to soften, but the 2011 continues to develop very nicely in bottle. This is a very strong showing, especially within the context of the year. The 2011 is dark and even a bit rough round the edges, particularly when tasted alongside the surrounding vintages. The lithe, mid-weight, savory style is at times more Old World than New, yet all the elements are in the right place.

92 James Suckling - Jamessuckling.com

This is very aromatic and pretty with plum, cherry and currant aromas, plus hints of chocolate. It's full-bodied, with soft, silky tannins and a clean, fresh finish. This is a subtly fruity, juicy red with a pretty texture. Drink or hold. For early drinking. 71% cabernet sauvignon, 11% merlot, 9% petit verdot, 8% cabernet franc and 1% malbec.

90 William Kelley - Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

Already bottled, the 2022 Fixin Village delivers notes of smoky berries, petals and plums, followed by a medium-bodied, supple and suave palate that's seamless, lively and charming. This will drink well with minimal bottle age.

88-90 Neal Martin - Vinous Media

The 2022 Fixin Village was a blend taken from tank three weeks earlier. The delicate bouquet offers red cherries and crushed strawberry fruit. The palate is medium-bodied with refined tannins. It’s a fleshy and pretty Fixin with lightly spiced red fruit tinged with white pepper. Enjoy this lovely Fixin over the next 4-7 years.

98 Decanter

"Owned by Groupe Taillan, with Eric Boissenot as consultant winemaker, the estate is currently converting to organic. This is 67% Cabernet Sauvignon, 31.5% Merlot and 1.5% Cabernet Franc, vinified in wooden vats and cement tanks, then 18-24 months in French oak barriques. Georgie Hindle: Great clarity. Nice crunchy red fruits with mint notes and milk chocolate creaminess. So balanced and well delivered. A touch of wood spice gives the finish a piquance. Vincenzo Arnese: Fresh, pure nose – a complex mix of red fruits and plum, with integrated oak and lively structure. Elegant and linear, this shows potential but also evolution. Andy Howard MW: An intriguing wine, still quite reticent on the nose. Needs time. Dark berry fruit, plenty of spice and minty notes. Will blossom with a few more years in the bottle. Drinking Window 2023 - 2048"

94 Wine Advocate - Wine Advocate

A barrel sample made up of 67% Cabernet Sauvignon, 31.5% Merlot and 1.5% Cabernet Franc, the medium to deep garnet-purple colored 2017 Gruaud Larose offers a lifted nose of violets and kirsch over a core of cassis, baked plums and black raspberries with hints of cigar box, menthol and dark chocolate. Medium-bodied, elegant and very finely structured with ripe tannins and lovely freshness, it has loads of vibrant red and black fruits with a mineral-laced finish.

94 Wine Enthusiast

Bright flavors of cranberry, red plum, cherry, and lavender are intertwined with supple tannins, balanced acidity, and a long, smooth finish.

95+ William Kelley - Decanter

This estate is now enjoying its finest run since its glory days in the 1970s, and the 2020 Giscours is excellent. Unwinding in the glass with deep aromas of blackberries, cassis, pencil shavings, rose petals and sweet, loamy soil, it's medium to full-bodied, ample and fleshy, with a layered and seamless mid-palate, excellent concentration and powdery structuring tannins. Giscours produced some brilliant wines in the past, with a string of notable successes in the 1970s and early 1980s, but then it fell victim to neglect. The predominance of Cabernet Sauvignon in those old vintages, sometimes representing more than 80% of the blend, gradually ceded ground to more productive and facile Merlot; and the estate's reputation declined. When the Albada family acquired Giscours in 1995, all that began to change. Fully 140,000 missing vines were replaced, cultivating the soils was resumed, and the winery was renovated. A young Alexander van Beek arrived for harvest in 1995 and ended up staying to oversee the work. And the results today are very exciting indeed. Giscours itself occupies three large gravel domes: one opposite the château itself, the other on the other side of the road and a third inland that hits fully 21 meters above sea level. There's a large park with a river at the heart of the estate, and the team are creating wildlife corridors and hedges to bring life back into the vineyards. Seeded cover crops now protect the soils, and canopies are a touch lower to limit excess sugar accumulation. At harvest itself, vines of different age have been marked out to be harvested separately, an immense task, considering that Giscours has 100 hectares under vine in the Margaux appellation alone.

98 James Suckling - Jamessuckling.com

This is a very linear red and layered at the same time, showing blackberry, blueberry, black-truffle, bark and stone character. Chalk and minerality, too. It’s full-bodied and well framed with gorgeous intensity and freshness. Muscular with wonderful structure and brightness. Salty and savory notes on the finish. Try after 2024.

97 Antonio Galloni - Vinous

The 2018 Troplong Mondot will take readers who haven't tasted these wines in a few years aback. Stunning in its aromatic presence, the 2018 is silky, medium-in body and super-refined. Once again, I am blown away by the wine's total sense of precision. The Cabernets are only 15% of the blend, and yet the 2018 is so strongly marked by floral and savory accents. Sweet red cherry, blood orange, mint, rose petal and lavender all build in the glass. The 2018 is regal, refined and absolutely exquisite.

97 Jane Anson - Decanter

One of the stories of the 2018 vintage in Bordeaux was Troplong Mondot bringing in its first grapes on 7 September. Proof, many suggested, of director Aymeric de Gironde going too far in his quest to rewrite Troplong's powerful style. It certainly made me excited to try this wine, and I hope the sceptics were too, because this is a brilliant Troplong. Oh, and although around 80% of the grapes did come in during those first 10 days, the final harvest date was 10 October.There's clear depth just in the colour alone, and impressive complexity on the nose. There's still a whole lot of Troplong strength and concentration here, you can't get away from that with these clay and flint over limestone soils, but now it is softer, with more minerality. The relatively high alcohols are apparent in the texture but not as heat. I love the persistency here, as it drags things out in the most delicious of ways, with a slate and white pepper finish. Of the new vineyards bought (4ha from Clos Labarde and 6ha from Bellisle Mondotte), everything is in the second wine this year. The château will probably ask for some sections to be included in the grand vin in the next classification in 2022. 3.56pH. Thomas Duclos consults.

96 Jeb Dunnuck - jebdunnuck.com

The 2018 Château Troplong Mondot showed beautifully. Based on 85% Merlot, 13% Cabernet Sauvignon, and the rest Cabernet Franc, it reveals a dense purple color as well as ripe beautiful aromatics of black cherries, red plums, graphite, espresso, Asian spices, and gravelly earth. Beautiful on the palate as well, it's medium to full-bodied and has a rounded, expansive texture, plenty of mid-palate depth, building tannins, and present yet integrated oak. This classic, impressive Troplong Mondot will need 5-7 years of bottle age but will evolve for 30 years or more.

96 Lisa Perrotti-Brown - Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

The 2018 Troplong Mondot is blended of 85% Merlot, 13% Cabernet Sauvignon and 2% Cabernet Franc, with 15% alcohol. Deep garnet-purple colored, with considerable coaxing and swirling it slowly emerges from the glass like a waking giant, building to a towering bouquet of preserved plums, blueberry pie and Morello cherries with gentler wafts of violets, star anise, fruitcake and cast-iron pan. The concentrated, full-bodied palate possesses impressive purity and brightness of fruit commingled with richer, riper elements and supported by firm, velvety tannins, finishing with lovely freshness and on a lingering ferrous note. It's a wine that's not just delicious, it's seriously interesting too.

96 Luis Gutierrez - Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

2020 was a challenging year that gave them a lot of work in the vineyard, but it it paid off. The 2020 Laurel feels very elegant, balanced and fresh, a little lighter perhaps, with perfectly ripe tannins, a little in line with 2016 or 2013. It might be a little unusual for the house style or perhaps a slight change, as they are gradually going for softer vinifications; you don't really need to extract in Priorat, because the wines are powerful enough on their own. It's still extremely young and has a lactic touch (that blows off with a bit of time in the glass); it was only bottled at the end of May 2022, three months before I tasted it. Even if it's the second wine here, it's a wine that needs a little bit of time and improves in the bottle. Having said that, the 2020s feel more open, expressive and approachable than the 2019s, which are more tannic and powerful while the 2020s feel a little more Burgundian if you like. This has to be one of the finest vintages of Laurel so far. After some time in the glass, the aromatics of the Syrah (which was perhaps a little more this year, some 12% versus 8% in 2019) made an appearance—violets, smoked bacon. Daphne Glorian told me that everything was easy, that the wine was expressive and open from day one and that the fermentations were smooth. There are some 19,000 bottles of this.

100 Robert Parker

"A blend of 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc and 1% Petit Verdot aging in 60% new barriques, the very deep purple-black colored 2020 Smith Haut Lafitte makes an impactful entrance, opening with flamboyant notes of blackcurrant pastilles, chocolate-covered cherries and molten licorice, leading to nuances of ground cloves, woodsmoke, crushed rocks and dusty soil. The medium to full-bodied palate bursts with opulent black fruit preserves and shimmering mineral sparks, framed by exquisitely ripe and fantastically firm tannins and seamless freshness, finishing with epically long-lasting earthy and savory layers. This is the singular voice of Smith Haut Lafitte at its finest, and wow-oh-wow is it worth a listen. This 2020 has an alcohol of 14.5% with a pH of 3.65. The tannins this year were a little higher than 2018 and 2019. A little less than a third of production went into this grand vin. Barrel Sample: 98-100".

100 Jeb Dunnuck - jebdunnuck.com

Absolutely pure gold and reminding me of the 2009 (or is it the 2010?), the 2020 Château Smith Haut Lafitte sports a dense purple hue to go with incredible aromatics of blackberries, blueberries, scorched earth, wood smoke, and acacia flowers. One of the most concentrated, rich, and sexy wines in the vintage, this massive and extraordinarily opulent 2020 shows the vintage's pure, elegant profile yet backs it up with sensational levels of fruit and texture. Based on 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, and the balance Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot, it already offers pleasure given its wealth of fruit, but it deserves 7-8 years of bottle age and will evolve for 40-50 years. Not enough can be said about the quality of these wines. Bravo to Florence and Daniel Cathiard, as well as to director Fabien Teitgen, for another incredible achievement.