Let us start with some facts; Avi Davidowitz, from the Kosher Wine Unfiltered blog, and I were in Paris together this past week. We were there to taste as many Kosher Bordeaux wines from the 2022 and 2023 vintages as humanly possible. We arrived on a Monday and by Noon, we were knee-deep into a plethora of Bordeaux wines. As is typical, the trip started with a massive tasting of Royal Wine’s latest releases, followed by two more organized tastings, and many tastings we did in our hotel room, as usual.

The first wine tasting that Avi Davidowitz and I organized during our trip to Paris was with Menahem Israelievitch, the Managing director and Winemaker of Royal Wine Europe, in his lovely home.

The 2022 Vintage in Bordeaux

So, the 2022 vintage is one that I will openly say surprised me. Until this trip, I had found the 2022 Bordeaux to be a ripe mess. Yes, there were a few exceptions, but the majority of wines, until that week, were a mess. However, even after the week of wonderful wines, I finally realized my issue, there is a difference between a good wine and a wine I want to drink. In this post and the rest of the 2022 Bordeaux wine posts (with more yet still untasted), the theme will be ripeness. Now, ripeness can be managed with good acidity, but at 15.5% ABV or 15% ABV, you may say that the wine is too ripe. However, that is not true. There are examples on this blog of wines we have tasted at that ABV that are actually refreshing!

Some of the wine notes you read below will state those words, the magic refreshing word. The wines, without that word, are still wonderful, and wines I may buy, but there is a sense of weight to those wines that I wonder about. How will they manage themselves in 15 years?

Let us talk about the age-ability of these 2022 Bordeaux wines. They are 100% UNDRINKABLE at this time. PERIOD. Sure, for tasting sake, we can taste them, but they are either horribly closed, horribly fat (meaning showing absurd fruit), or just so large and clumsy that they are not enjoyable at this time. So, when you look at the drinking windows, do not be shocked to see 30-year windows. The Leoville Poyferre, Pontet Canet, and even the Moulin Riche are wines that will cost you dearly now and in the future. These are wines that you will need to put away for 20+ years. In my opinion, these are not wines that will get to their tertiary dream state before a long time. These are wines that will require a very long and patient approach before you will get that payoff. For many of us on this earth, I wonder if I want to buy a wine that will not meet that plateau before I am pretty old. Ignoring mortality or the desire to enjoy wines like that at an advanced age – it is also the knowledge that the space in your cellar is locked away for these wines, and you really are not going to touch them for an extended period.

With all that said, sorry for the tangent; these are very special wines that should deserve some thought on how/where you will age and preserve them, given the long drinking windows. Now, I hear all of you. What about 2015, 2016, and the like? Are they not also akin to this? The answer is NO! Those vintages were balanced and, as such, will come around soon enough. Still, it has been 10 years now, and they are not ready, and they will not be ready for some time. I guess I am just projecting my thoughts here regarding what I can buy, store, and dream about enjoying in 20+ years.

Finally, unlike the 2021 vintage, these wines are not green. Maybe they have roasted herbs, but that is more oak, and they rarely show vegetal notes.

How do I see the 2022 vintage in comparison to other recent vintages? I say the quality and personal interest I have in buying these wines are behind the 2019, 2016, and 2014 but ahead of the 2015, 2018, and so on.

Looking through this list of wine notes below for the 2022 vintage and the ones coming for the other wines we tasted from this vintage, you will see a pattern, good scores, and many QPR WINNERS. Mr. Israelievitch and the team did an excellent job with the 2022 vintage. As you will see soon, there are many wines here. This is an outlier vintage BOTH regarding the number of labels made by Royal and others and the ripeness of the wines. I am not sure, but this feels like the largest number of French labels made by Royal in a single year. That does not even include the dual label (Mevushal and non-Mevushal issue/situation). Even if you look at Bordeaux alone, it has to be the largest, in my opinion. So, when you compare this vintage’s number of QPR WINNER scores, it is unfair. A more interesting thing is to look at the percentage of QPR WINNER to wines. Something I hope to explore.

The truly great vintage, for me, was the 2019 vintage, as I stated many times already, but even there, the 2019 vintage only had 13 QPR WINNER. It was the most balanced vintage so far, outside of 2014 and some of 2015. Of course, PLEASE be clear, I speak of kosher wines. I am sure many think 2020 was the perfect vintage in Bordeaux. However, IMHO, and I think I have tasted every kosher wine made from Bordeaux over the past 8 years; 2019, 2014, and some of 2015 were the winners. Still, the 2022 vintage takes the award for the most QPR WINNER wines produced by Royal Wines, 28! That is an incredible number! I state again that the 2022 vintage is incredible; it shocked me, and the ripeness is my issue. I crave balance, both in my life and in the and in the wines I drink. I think that most will find these wines enjoyable, and they will fly off the shelves, even given the more significant number of wines made.

To me, the 2014 vintage was crazy fun because it is less ripe than the 2015 or 2016 vintage. They were also FAR cheaper. Then you had the 2015 wines, which were more expensive and far riper than the 2014 vintage. This 2016 vintage is the best of both worlds but comes at a crazy high price.  During the epic post of my visit to Bordeaux with Mr. Israelievitch, I warned you at that time that you better start saving your money; sadly, nothing has changed about that. The REAL shocker price-wise of the 2016 vintage was Chateau Malartic, which rose to almost 150 or more a bottle! That was close to double the 2014 vintage.

The 2022 vintage is more expensive than the 2021 vintage, which was more expensive than the 2020 vintage. The “deals” were from the 2019 vintage and the upcoming 2023 vintage. In between, the prices went up and up and up! The real Chutzpah was 2021. It was not a good vintage and yet Bordeaux raised their prices! The 2022 vintage is just one of those generational vintages, to those that crave massive fruit, and as such, garnered so many high scores during “En Primeur week” that they had to raise prices, yet again.

In a previous post about the most recent French wines (at that time in 2017) that were arriving on the market, I already discussed pricing and supply, so there is no need to discuss that again in this post.

Mevushal Wine Push

The Mevushal push from Royal wines is continuing for the USA labels. More wines are being made in a Mevushal manner, and while I wonder if this is good overall for myself, it makes sense for Royal wines, which, in the end, I guess is what matters to them. Will this be an issue? In the past, I have found that the mevushal work of Mr. Israelievitch is top-notch and just ages the wine rather than ruining it. Sadly, that trend has been failing in recent years, especially when it involves white and rose wines. More and more, the mevushal white and rose wines have shown a difference between the two variations, mostly regarding acidity. I have no idea why the flash affects the acidity, but it has been clear to me, and the best example was the 2019 Gazin Rocquencourt Blanc. The non-mevushal version is solid, while the mevushal version is not.

So, once again, as I have been doing for YEARS, I will ask Royal to treat their own personally made French wines with the same courtesy that they show Binyamina, Psagot, Capcanes, Shiloh, and others. Why are you OK with importing BOTH the mevushal and non-mevushal versions of wines that are not worthy of the glass they are in but are more than happy to throw a blind eye to wines you personally produce? The French wines deserve better, and again, I AM ASKING for you to import BOTH the mevushal and non-mevushal versions as you do for so many other brands. What personally offends me is that Royal continues to bring TRASH wines in both formats! I stress that NO one who buys the wines listed above, that are “WORTHY” of the double import treatment, would care at all if they were all Mevushal!
The reply I have been given is space. Royal does not have enough space for the non-mevushal wines. OK! Then why did you just import THREE more wines, wines I would never buy, in both formats! New wines – never imported before in both formats! WHY?? How did Rouyal MAGICALLY find more room for garbage and not enough for their own wines??? Another excuse I am given is that the non-mevushal French wines did not sell well, but after they brought in the Mevushal option, things sold well. OK, again, bring in BOTH! THROW away the non-Mevushal other wines that no one cares about and bring in a smaller number of the non-mevushal French SKU. This is not a space issue. This is an issue of DOLLARS! It is easier to sell new stuff, not things that do not sell well. Once you stop – you never go back unless they are new! Well, respectfully, that is trash, just like the wines you are importing in both formats! Get over it!

The Mevushal wines from France for the 2022/2023 vintages will be the

• 2023 Les Marrionniers Chablis, Petit Chablis
• 2023 Les Marrionniers Chablis, Chablis
• 2023 Domaine J. de Villebois Pouilly-Fume
• 2023 Domaine de Panquelaine
• 2023 Domaine J. de Villebois Sancerre
• 2023 Chateau Les Riganes, Blanc
• 2023 Chateau Les Riganes, Bordeaux (all of them other than the Reserve)
• 2022 Chateau Genlaire, Bordeaux Superieur
• 2023 Des Barons Edmond & Benjamin de Rothschild Les Lauriers, Montagne Saint-Emilion
• 2022 Barons Edmond & Benjamin de Rothschild, Haut-Medoc
• 2020 Chateau Greysac, Medoc
• 2022 Chateau de Parsac
• 2022 Chateau la Clare
• 2022 Chateau Rollan de By
• 2022 Chateau Mayne Guyon
• 2022 Chateau Tour Seran
• 2022 Chateau Le Crock, Saint-Estephe, Bordeaux
• 2022 Chateau Royaumont
• 2022 Les Roches de Yon
• 2022 Pavillon de Leoville Poyferre
• 2022 Le Comte de Malartic, Pessac-Leognan 
• 2022 Chateau Gazin Rocquencourt (Blanc and Red)
• 2022 Chevalier de Lascombes, Pessac-Leognan
• 2022 Clos Triguedina Malbec du Clos
• 2022 Chateau Roubine Lion & Dragon, Red

Now, does mevushal impede the long-term viability of aging in regard to wine? Well, that, too, is not something that we have scientific proof of. I have tasted a mevushal 1999 Herzog Special Edition, which was aging beautifully! Same with the Chateau Le Crock over the past few years. So, would I buy the mevushal versions of the wines I tasted below? The answer is it depends. I have tasted some of the Mevushal wines listed above and think something was wrong with them. So, I will try to get them to taste them again. I will say, sadly, that we never tasted the non-Mevushal version of the 2022 Pavillon de Leoville. That was the only Mevushal version we had at the tasting in Paris.

I state this because I sat with and tasted the 2022 Pavillon de Leoville and the 2022 Chateau le Crock. I tasted those two wines at my house, and both were Mevushal, as that is what they sell in the USA. I would buy the non-Mevushal version of Chateau le Crock but not the Mevushal version. Besides those two wines, I need to taste the Mevushal versions of all these wines in the USA to make a proper decision.

To me personally, it is very clear that if Royal had their way, they would make the Pontet Canet Mevushal! Nothing to Royal is sacred, and this will not stop with the list above; it will grow. The proof is that Chevalier and Gazin were made mevushal in 2019. Now, Pavillon and others were made Mevu in 2021. My guess for the next Mevushal wines is either Chateau Malmaison, Chateau Moulin Riche, or Chateau Tertre. Time will tell.

Separately, I have found wines that were shipped during the summer, like the 2023 Domaine Raymond Usseglio & Fils Chateauneuf du Pape, Blanc, were somehow affected. I have no idea if that happened in the travel or in storage. I tasted it first with Avi and Mr. Israelievitch and raved about it! Then I tasted it again in Bayonne, and it was not the same at all (See the notes further down for more info). I have had it in the USA two more times since then, and the quality is not the same. The same problem happened to the 2023 Domaine Bourillon Dorleans Vouvray, Coulee d’Argent, Sec. I loved it in Paris and found it very different in the USA. Now, I am forced to taste the wine BOTH in Paris and in the USA before buying them, which is annoying.

IMPORTANT NOTE:

Seven wines we tasted will not be sold in the USA! So, I will denote them as such because, in the USA, we get the Mevushal version of these wines. I hope to taste the seven Mevushal versions soon.

The 2022 Pricing and access

The 2022 Chateau Pontet Canet and the 2022 Chateau Leoville Poyferre will be higher than they have ever been, though probably not as high as the 2022 Philippe Le Hardi Clos De Vougeot, Grand Cru. Chateau Giscour is also going up in price! The crazy thing is that the 2021 vintage was nowhere as good as 2020, and the Chateau stuck to their guns and pricing, so the poor-showing 2021 vintage stays even with the 2020 Vintage on pricing. That is what I call Chutzpah! Worse yet, as stated above, the 2022 vintage is priced higher than the 2020 or the 2021.

Tasting in Paris

Once we arrived, we started the tasting, but given the number of wines, we knew it would be a very long tasting. We stayed in the area for the evening, let us not talk about that hotel, think better than Lyon, but not by much! Thankfully, the shower basically worked, and we both desperately needed sleep. Avi was running on fumes, and we had the best wines coming up yet. So, with a “decent” night’s sleep, we returned to taste through the rest of the wines and then made our way to our excellent hotel in Paris. As usual, the hotel in Paris would host our “Hotel wine tasting.” That post will have to wait until I finish the other two organized wine tastings. Lots of wine notes to come!

Retaste of a few 2021 wines

At the end of the tasting, we were given three wines to taste blind, and they were Royal Bordeaux wines from the 2021 vintage. Two of them were unchanged from my original notes and scores. The last one was the 2021 Chateau Lamothe-Bergeron. The wine was a green note monster the last time we had it. Now, it had some red fruit, but it was still an 87 or whatever. I suppose it may improve more with time, but when we taste wines, the notes are a snapshot in time.

Many Thanks

It is always a joy and honor to do our yearly tasting with Menahem Israelievitch. His care, love, and true joy in sharing the wines he creates for Royal Wines, even with folks like us, is a true testament to his professionalism. Mr. Israelievitch gathered 58 wines for us to taste, with a couple that had fake labels. Mr. Israelievitch had to get one-off pickups and shipments of these wines. For the wines that were actually labeled and sealed, you could ask the winery to make a one-off shipment, though even that is a significant pain for a winery and not something they like to do. However, if the wines were not yet labeled or sealed, they are not allowed to send them or have access to them. That means a Mashgiach needs to go and get the wines and send them or bring them back. Said another way, these tastings are a MAJOR pain and MAJOR work and coordination for Mr. Israelievitch to do for us each year. Thanks so much!!

My many thanks to Menahem Israelievitch for going out of his way to help me taste all the current French wines from Royal Wines before some were publicly released.

The wine notes follow below – the explanation of my “scores” can be found here and the explanation for QPR scores can be found here:

2023 Chateau les Riganes Malbec, Bordeaux (M) – Score: 84 (QPR: GOOD)
The nose of this wine is nice, with fruity notes. It is meaty, with roasted animals, tobacco, and hints of lavender. This is a fruity-styled Malbec that is also controlled. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is nice, with good tannin, acidity, nice plum, boysenberry, ripe raspberry, nice fruity wine, meaty notes, and some green as well. The finish is long, fruity, meaty, and tannic. Drink by 2026. (tasted January 2025) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 13%)

2023 Chateau les Riganes Merlot, Bordeaux (M) – Score: 85 (QPR: GOOD)
The nose of this wine is lovely, ripe, but not candied, with good bright fruit, blue and red fruit, smoke, and dirt, nice. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is ripe, better than the last time I had it, with soft tannin, good smoke, acidity, with plum, raspberry, some funk, and dirt, with chalk and earth. The finish is long and dirty and earthy with smoke and dirt and simple tannin. Drink by 2026. (tasted January 2025) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 13%)

2023 Chateau les Riganes Cabernet Franc, Bordeaux (M) – Score: 86 (QPR: GREAT)
The nose of this wine is nice. It has green notes like a Cab Franc and shows pepper, dirt, smoke, and red fruit. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is nice and fresh, with acidity, plum, cherry, smoke, with good tannin. The finish is long and green, with acidity and nice smoke. It’s simple but on point. Drink by 2026. (tasted January 2025) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 13%)

2023 Chateau les Riganes Cabernet Sauvignon, Bordeaux (M) – Score: 86 (QPR: GREAT)
The nose of this wine is ripe with candied black fruit, rich smoke, and dirt with some minerality and roasted herbs. The mouthfeel of this medium-bodied wine is pleasant, with some acidity, blackberry, plum, dark chocolate, roasted herb, and green notes. A bit too fruity and simple. The finish is long, dirty, smoky, and herbal. Drink by 2026. (tasted January 2025) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 13%)

2023 Chateau les Riganes, Bordeaux (M) – Score: 90 (QPR: GREAT)
The nose of this wine is nice, showing good control, dirt, loam, smoke, roasted herb, tobacco, black and red fruit, minerality, and tar. The mouth of this medium-plus-bodied wine is nice, ripe, big, bold but controlled, with enough acidity, lovely smoke, salinity, dirt, plush tannin, and smoke. The finish is long, dirty, earthy, and smoke. Drink by 2026. (tasted January 2025) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 13.5%)

2022 Clos Triguedina Malbec du Clos, Cahors (M) – Score: 90 (QPR: GREAT)
This is the third time I have had this wine, and it has started to show more like a Malbec from the time of opening, with funk, dirt, loam, blue and black fruit, deep tar, meaty notes, loam, smoke, and rich salinity. The smoke is showing more now than in the past, which is nice. I am concerned about the mouth of this medium-plus-bodied wine. It has lost a step since the last tasting. This is a simple enough Malbec, with smoke, earth, loam, blackberry, dark plum, dark cherry, tar, clay, and loam. The floral notes are in the background, while the middle is a bit weak. The finish is okay, dirty, smoky, and earthy, with loam. Drink until 2026. (tasted January 2025) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 13%)

2022 Clos Triguedina, Cahors – Score: 91 (QPR: WINNER)
The nose of this wine is ripe and meaty, but it is dominated by lavender and violet, with lots of roses, smoke, rich earth, lots of blue and red fruit, and rich smoke. The mouth of this full-bodied wine is floral, with nice acidity, lovely tar, smoke, roses, and lavender wrapped in mouth-draping and elegant tannin, blackberry, plum, boysenberry, raspberry, and rich smoke. These wines are intensely floral; the flowers back the fruit, the tar and fruit and tannin wrap the body of the wine, and then the minerality and acidity prop it up. The finish is long, earthy, dirty, smoky, and floral, with big ripe fruit and tar. Drink until 2028. (tasted January 2025) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 13%)

2023 Chateau Romefort, Haut-Medoc (M) – Score: 84 (QPR: EVEN)
The nose of this wine is fruity, ripe, not candied, with ripe red fruit, cherry, raspberry, loam, and dirt, but what really sticks out is the fruit and herbs, and not much to grab you.
The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is okay. I wanted more, but it feels too fruity and more Beaujolais, with ripe raspberry, just too simple, a bit too green and herbal, and short on the finish. Drink by 2027.  (tasted January 2025) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 13.5%)

2023 Les Lauriers de Rothschild, Montagne Saint-Emillon (M) – Score: 84 (QPR: EVEN)
The nose of this wine is very fruity, more than expected. There are green notes in the background, smoke, some tar and earth, and a bit of pruney. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine has good acidity but lacks the mouthfeel and focus, too green and tinny for me. I had this in the USA (Mevushal), and it showed far worse. Here, the wine is more focused but still too off-kilter, green and tinny, and a bit short on the acidity. Drink by 2026. (tasted January 2025) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 14%)

2023 Les Lauriers de Rothschild, Montagne Saint-Emillon – Score: 85 (QPR: GREAT)
The nose of this wine is nicer than the Mevushal version. It has fewer tinny notes and less pruney, with black and red fruit, graphite, smoke, and earth. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine shows less tinny notes, but it is still a bit too green and tinny, though it is more focused with nice mouth-drying tannin, smoke, cranberry, cherry, and earth. The finish is long, not candied, fruity, and earthy, with nice tannin. Drink by 2028. (tasted January 2025) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 14%)

2023 Chateau de Parsac, Montagne Saint-Emilion (M) – Score: 88 (QPR: GREAT)
The nose of this wine shows red fruit, smoke, and loam; it is a dirty, earthy, and smoky wine with good fruit. Nice. The mouth of this medium-plus-bodied wine has a nice fruit presence and an attack that is a bit green and herbal. It has raspberry, tart cherry, earth, and mouth-drying tannin. The finish is long, earthy, dirty, smoky, and fruity on the edge, but it works with roasted herbs and nice loam. Drink by 2027. (tasted January 2025) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 14%)

2022 Barons Edmond & Benjamin de Rothschild, Haut-Medoc (M) – Score: 92 (QPR: WINNER)
The nose of this wine is big, bold, and dirty. It has loads of minerality, fruit, smoke, and tar, deep inky notes, black and red fruit, and floral notes in the background. The mouth of this full-bodied wine is fun, with rich minerality, great graphite, nice dirt, good salinity, and nice mouth-coating tannin; not plush and elegant, but more of a brute, with nice control, blackberry, plum, cherry, earth, and more minerality, wrapped in a bit of sweet oak. Nice! The finish is long, yummy, and refreshing, with tar, dark chocolate, and more mineral focus. Nice! Drink from 2028 until 2034. (tasted January 2025) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 14.5%)

2022 Chateau Larcis Jaumat, Saint-Emilion Grand Cru – Score: 92+ (QPR: WINNER)
This wine is a blend of 90% Merlot & 10% Cabernet Sauvignon. The nose of this wine is ripe and balanced, with good bright fruit, jammy plum, floral notes, with jasmine, ripe raspberry, and smoke.
The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is ripe but balanced with very nice acidity. It shows some plum, raspberry, currants, candied cranberry, garrigue, sweet oak, nice mouth-coating tannin, sweet spices, floral notes, and roasted herbs.
The finish is long, ripe, and candied with vanilla, smoke, and sweet herbs. Drink from 2028 until 2035. (tasted January 2025) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 14.5%)

2022 Chateau Royaumont, Lalande de Pomerol – Score: 93 (QPR: WINNER)
THIS WINE IS NOT AVAILABLE in the USA. What we get is Mevushal. This note is for the NON-Mevushal wine.
This wine is a blend of 70% Merlot & 30% Cabernet Franc.
The nose of this wine is ripe, but it is the minerality and ripeness that come to the fore with floral notes, rich tar, black and blue fruit, and lovely pop. What sticks out is the fruit and the dense minerality.
The mouth of this full-bodied wine is lovely, the purity is there, with pure salinity and graphite, followed by black plum, raspberry, boysenberry, dense graphite, scraping minerals, smoke, rich earth and loam, and roasted herbs. It is really about the sense of focus, the elegance of the tannin and sweet oak, and the fruit focus precision.
The finish is long, dirty, mineral-driven, and fruity and a great show for the 2022 vintage. Drink from 2030 until 2038. (tasted January 2025) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 14.5%) NOT AVAILABLE IN THE USA

2022 Les Roches De Yon, Saint-Emilion Grand Cru – Score: 93 (QPR: WINNER)
THIS WINE IS NOT AVAILABLE in the USA. What we get is Mevushal. This note is for the NON-Mevushal wine.
This wine is a blend of 81% Merlot, 13% Cabernet Franc, & 6% Petit Verdot. The wine has changed its name by dropping the Figeac moniker.
The nose of this wine is lovely, with rich minerality, dense smoke, smoked meat, roasted herbs, red and black fruit, tar, graphite, and loam. It’s a very concentrated and bright nose. Bravo!
The mouth of this full-bodied wine is inky, dense, and tart, with rich minerality, graphite, great acidity, dense smoke, earth, ripe blackberry, plum, raspberry, dark cherry, mouth-draping tannin, elegance, smoke, rich toast, and sweet oak. Bravo!
The finish is long, smoky, dirty, and earthy, with lovely rich toast, rich graphite, and smoke. Drink from 2028 until 2038. (tasted January 2025) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 13%) NOT AVAILABLE IN THE USA

2022 Chateau La Fleur, Saint-Emilion Grand Cru – Score: 92+ (QPR: WINNER)
The nose of this wine is ripe, not candied, balanced, with ripe black and blue fruit, smoke, roasted herb, tar, smoke, cacao, nice graphite, loam, and rich dirt. Nice!!
The mouth of this full-bodied wine is ripe and balanced, with great acidity, nice fruit focus, black plum, some blackberry, ripe raspberry, smoke, great tannin, really plush, and concentrated, nice and enjoyable. The oak is sticking out a bit, at this moment, but that will calm.
The finish is long, ripe, concentrated, and truly enjoyable. It is a wine I would go back to drink more, with more graphite, minerality, smoke, loam, rich dirt, tar, and cacao. It’s really nice! Drink from 2030 until 2035. (tasted January 2025) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 14.5%)

2022 Chateau Montviel, Pomerol – Score: 93 (QPR: WINNER)
The nose of this wine is lovely, showing great pop, saline, minerality, rich smoke, tar, black pepper, spice, red and black fruit, and lovely smoke.
The mouth of this full-bodied wine is more elegant than the Royaumont, with great acidity, lovely minerality, elegance, raspberry, blackberry, plum, rich gravel, bramble, lovely smoke, mouthfeel and tension, mouth-drying tannin, and smoke. A very good approach for the 2022 vintage – nice!
The finish is long, tart, mineral-driven, and smokey with graphite and saline, more spice, and black pepper, lovely! Drink from 2030 until 2038. (tasted January 2025) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 15%)

2022 Chateau Fontenil, Fronsac – Score: 89 (QPR: EVEN)
This wine is 100% Merlot. The nose of this wine is ripe, ripe enough for me to use words like blackcurrant, figs, and cassis. It has nice smoke, and it does show minerality, but the fruit is all you can smell. One cannot shake the fact that this is an overripe wine in an overripe vintage made of 100% Merlot with nowhere to hide. There is no pop in the nose, it is all fruit, oak, and smoke.
The mouth of this full-bodied wine is dense, massive, broad, and concentrated; I just wish there was more acidity to help out, with blackberry, blackcurrant, cassis, fig, candied fruit, dense and chewy tannin, not coarse, just not elegant, with a crazy attack of fruit and more smoke. As in the nose, the fruitiness extremes are vacillating, but the truth is plain to see for those like me who want and desire balance.
The finish is long, ripe, dense, and candied, it has some minerality, but you really have to reach for it, mostly just dense fruit, oak, tannin, and smoke. Drink until 2040. (tasted January 2025) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 14.5%)

2023 Les Marronniers Petit Chablis, Petit Chablis (M) – Score: 91 (QPR: WINNER)
The nose of this wine is nice, showing ripe apples, pears, and peaches, nice toast, some funk, slate, minerality, and smoke. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is quite lovely, showing great acidity, nice peach, nectarine, and pear, with ripe fruit, lovely acidity, minerality, smoke, and a long, fun, and refreshing finish. Nice! Drink by 2026. (tasted January 2025) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 12.5%)

2023 Les Marronniers Chablis, Chablis (M) – Score: 87 (QPR: EVEN)
The nose of this wine is toasty, smoky, and ripe, with ripe pear, apple, peach, and funky. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is a bit too one-dimensional and lacks the crazy acidity needed. It has apple and pear flavors, but the focus is peach and smoke. Even there, the flavors are the same, and they pass and finish. The tension is nice. Drink now. (tasted January 2025) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 12.5%)

2023 Chateau Bellevue Morgon Grand Cras, Morgon, Grand Cras – Score: 91 (QPR: GREAT)
The nose of this wine is lovely. It’s a good-smelling Gamay with no green notes, ripe red fruit, balance, funk, some minerality, rich floral notes, rosehip, jasmine, and rich smoke. Nice! The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is nice, with very little banana, good acidity, plum, cherry, raspberry, and good smoke, with good tannin and nice roasted herbs; it’s nice! The finish is long, with great acidity, hints of banana, nice red fruit, coconut, smoke, and some minerality. Nice! Drink by 2028. (tasted January 2025) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 13.5%)

2023 Cave De Tain Crozes Hermitage, Crozes-Hermitage – Score: 92+ (QPR: WINNER)
This wine is a Syrah-based wine. The nose of this very young wine is really impressive. It has lovely minerality, red fruit, rich graphite, loam, smoke, roasted meat, tar, and black pepper. The mouth of this medium-plus-bodied wine is nice. It has great acidity, with nice black plum, raspberry, tart blueberry, smoke, good tannin, and black pepper. It is balanced, with lovely fruit focus and structure. Nice! The finish is long, ripe, balanced, with bright fruit, tar, smoke, roasted meat, and minerality. Drink by 2031. (tasted January 2025) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 13%)

2022 Chateau Roubine, Cru Classe, Premium Red, Cotes de Provence – Score: 87 (QPR: EVEN)
THIS WINE IS NOT AVAILABLE in the USA. What we get is Mevushal. This note is for the NON-Mevushal wine.
This is a ripe wine like most of the wines from France’s 2022 vintage. The nose is ripe and candied, but it has enough balance, with ripe red fruit, hints of blue fruit, smoke, bramble, root beer, loam, and tar.
The mouth of this medium-plus-bodied wine is nice enough, but the fruit is still too much. The ripeness sticks out, with boysenberry, raspberry, and strawberry. What I crave is balance, more acidity, and a refreshing feeling.
The finish is long, with more ripe fruit, but it feels bland, aka flat. So, where I crave refreshment, the wine delivers fruit and some vanilla. Drink by 2026. (tasted January 2025) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 14%)

2022 Chateau le Rey Les Rocheuses, Castillon Cotes de Bordeaux – Score: 92 (QPR: WINNER)
This wine is a blend of 80% Merlot & 20% Cabernet Franc. The nose of this wine is smokey, dirty, and ripe, with dense minerality and dense and brooding black and blue fruit. It is not candied; it is dense, with loam, ink, tar, and rich graphite.
The mouth of this full-bodied wine is ripe; it is not candied; it is massive, brooding, dense, and rich, with intense minerality, blackberry, plum, and dark raspberry, brooding but balanced. How can a 15.5% wine be balanced? One word: MINERALITY! The amount of minerality is incredible, with dense graphite, toast, dense mouthfeel, plush and layered, richly extracted, and lovely tar; bravo!
The finish of this wine is lovely and very interesting, with dark chocolate and roasted herbs. Bravo! Drink from 2028 until 2037 (tasted January 2025) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 15.5%)

2022 Domaine Raymond Usseglio & Fils Chateauneuf du Pape, Chateauneuf du Pape – Score: 90 (QPR: GOOD)
This wine is a blend of Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre, Cinsault, & Counoise The nose of this ripe and black and blue and cherry all over, with ripe cherry, raspberry, blueberry, flint, rock, black pepper, root beer, and roasted meat. The mouth of this full-bodied wine is ripe, with good acidity, but the heat is a bit too much, with candied blueberry, and raspberry, with intense tannin structure, sweet coffee, ribbons of minerality, graphite, rock, and smoke. The finish is long and ripe; the heat lingers, and the tannin is dense and rich, with coffee, root beer, and roasted meat. Drink by 2032. (tasted January 2025) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 15%)

2022 Domaine Raymond Usseglio & Fils Chateauneuf du Pape, Vielles Vignes, Chateauneuf du Pape, Vielles Vignes – Score: 92+ (QPR: WINNER)
This is the fourth time I have had this wine, and I love it! This wine is a blend of Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre, Cinsault, & Counoise. The nose of this wine is nice, with ripe fruit, showing blackberry, plum, cassis, and root beer, blue fruit, big ripe and in your face, nice minerality. This is far more controlled than the baseline version. The mouth of this full-bodied wine is a freight train of fruit: rich, brooding, juicy, and ripe, with nice minerality, smoke, blackberry, and boysenberry. The fruit is juicy and concentrated, almost plush, but still very nice. The finish is long, ripe, not candied, with lovely fruit, nice minerality, good acidity, nice concentration, vanilla, roasted meat, sweet spices, cinnamon, cloves, and roasted coffee. A really nice improvement. Drink until 2032. (tasted January 2025) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 15%)

N.V. La Maison Bleue Blanc de Blanc, Brut, France (M) – Score: 85 (QPR: GREAT)
The nose of this wine is nice, with apple, funk, flint, and orange notes. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine feels a bit flat, I was hoping for more, lacks the pop but what it has is acidity, smoke, and lovely medium-mousse bubbles. The finish is long and bubbly, the bubbles keep going. Nice. Drink now. (tasted January 2025) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 12.5%)

N.V. La Maison Bleue Blanc de Blanc, Demi-Sec, France (M) – Score: 84 (QPR: GREAT)
The nose of this wine pops more than the Brut and the orange, apple, and funk are popping, nice. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine does its job, the residual sugar helps make the wine show better, and the mousse is nice. This hits exactly what they are looking for. Drink now. (tasted January 2025) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 12%)

N.V. La Maison Bleue Rose Brut, France (M) – Score: 86 (QPR: GREAT)
The nose of this wine is once again on point, with raspberry and cherry, an active mousse, and nice fruit. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine wants more acidity, and more pop; still, it is the best of the three, with some nice texture and medium-sized mousse. Drink now. (tasted January 2025) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 12%)

N.V. Drappier Brut Champagne Carte D’ Or, Champagne (M) – Score: 92 (QPR: WINNER)
The disgorgement date on this is 10/24 The nose of this wine is yeasty, with lovely baked goods, freshly baked apples, kumquat pie, ripe quince, sweet oak, lemon curd, honeysuckle, and pleasant minerality. This is another great bottling. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is ripe, balanced, elegant, but persuasive, with attacking layers of small bubble mousse, clean and professional, citrus, lemongrass, melon, more minerality, slate, and lovely baked pie with yeasty notes commanding your attention. Lovely! Drink until 2027. (tasted January 2025) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 12%)

2022 Philippe Le Hardi Mercurey Les Champs Michaux, Mercurey, Burgundy – Score: 91+ (QPR: WINNER)
The nose of this wine is lovely, with more control than the baseline. It shows less ripe, with green notes, roasted herbs, elegance, more complexity, cherry, raspberry, and nice smoke.  The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is more precise and almost elegant, with crazy acidity, nice cherry and raspberry flavors, rich salinity, nice pop and tension, enough complexity, lingering saline, roasted herb, and sweet spices. The finish is long, rich, and lingering, with lovely fruit and coffee. Drink by 2033. (tasted January 2025) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 13%)

2022 Philippe Le Hardi Mercurey 1er Cru, Mercurey, Burgundy – Score: 92+ (QPR: WINNER)
The nose of this wine pops really well, showing rich loam and dirt, saline, and coffee with roasted herbs and nice smoke, cherry, and rhubarb. The nose is very expressive, complex, rich, and lovely! The mouth of this medium-plus-bodied wine is nice, more complex, and elegant; it has a nice heft, good mouthfeel, lovely acidity, and smoke, with cherry, raspberry, and darker fruit, tension, and precision, rich saline and dirt, and nice makeup.  The finish is long, dirty, ripe, controlled, and elegant, Nice! Drink from 2030 until 2035. (tasted January 2025) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 13.5%)

2022 Philippe Le Hardi Aloxe Corton, Aloxe Corton, Burgundy – Score: 93 (QPR: WINNER)
The nose of this wine pops really well, showing rich loam and dirt, saline, and coffee with roasted herbs and nice smoke, cherry, and rhubarb. The nose is very expressive, complex, rich, and lovely! The mouth of this medium-plus-bodied wine is nice, more complex, and elegant; it has a nice heft, good mouthfeel, lovely acidity, and smoke, with cherry, raspberry, and darker fruit, tension, and precision, rich saline and dirt, and nice makeup.  The finish is long, dirty, ripe, controlled, and elegant, Nice! Drink from 2030 until 2038. (tasted January 2025) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 13.5%)

2022 Chateau Greysac, Medoc (M) – Score: 91+ (QPR: WINNER)
This wine is a blend of 65% Merlot, 29% Cabernet Sauvignon, 3% Cabernet Franc, and 3% Petit Verdot. The nose of this wine is lovely, dirty, earthy, smoky, and fun, with notes of red fruit, loam, funk, and nice minerality. It has good pop and clean lines. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is on point, with great tannin, dark cherry, raspberry, and currant, backed by rich mouth-drying tannin, dense smoke, and focus. I would have loved a bit more acidity, but impressive. The finish is long, tannic, and focused with tobacco, graphite, and drying focus. Drink by 2030. (tasted January 2025) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 14.5%)

2022 Chateau Fourcas Dupre Cuvee Hautes Terres, Listrac-Medoc (M) – Score: 83 (QPR: EVEN)
This wine is a blend of 50% Cabernet Sauvignon & 50% Merlot. The nose of this wine is simple: green, herbal, floral, potpourri, red fruit, and loam. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine has lovely tannin, with green notes, roasted herbs, rich floral notes that are overpowering, plum, raspberry, and smoke. The finish is okay. Drink soon. (tasted January 2025) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 13%)

2022 Chateau Fourcas Dupre, Listrac-Medoc – Score: 93 (QPR: WINNER)
The nose of this wine starts green and herbal but, with time, opens to dirty, smoky, and ripe, with black and red fruit, ink, iron, graphite, and roasted herbs. The mouth of this medium-plus-bodied wine is super-closed, showing great tension. It is a lovely and elegant wine with mouth-draping tannin, blackberry, currant, dark cherry, roasted herb, and dense graphite. Bravo! The finish is long, tannic, rich, dense, and closed, with more lovely graphite, rock, roasted herb, and smoke. Bravo! Drink from 2034 until 2040. (tasted January 2025) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 13%)

2022 Chateau Malmaison, Moulis-en-Medoc – Score: 92 (QPR: WINNER)
The nose of this wine does not smell like a 13.5% ABV wine; it smells like a 14.5% ABV wine, with rich milk chocolate, sweet dill, dense smoke, some minerality, black and red fruit, and nice loam. From the nose, it smells More Cali than French. The mouth of this medium-plus-bodied wine is very different than the nose: very closed, with dense tannin, rich and layered, with nice minerality, with crazy acidity, blackberry, plum, cassis, mouth-drying tannin, rich graphite, and loam. A wine that is so closed all you can see is where it will go at this time. The finish is long, dense, and layered, with good smoke, rich structure, tannin, milk chocolate, new sweet oak, sweet tobacco, and a long, dense tannic finish. Bravo! Drink from 2030 until 2038. (tasted January 2025) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 13.5%)

2022 Gazin Rocquencourt, Pessac-Leognan – Score: 93+ (QPR: WINNER)
THIS WINE IS NOT AVAILABLE in the USA. What we get is Mevushal. This note is for the NON-Mevushal wine.
The nose of this wine is less ripe than in previous vintages, with dense fruit but beautifully controlled. It shows ripe black and red fruit, with hints of blue fruit, dense smoke, rich minerality, and great pop. It is the pop and the minerality that bring it around with floral notes of rose, rich milk chocolate, and sweet oak. The mouth of this full-bodied wine is closed, and the structure tells you this will be a huge wine with blackberry, cassis, and plum, a lovely fruit focus, filled with minerality, great acidity, and dense smoke. The wine here is backed by dense minerality, and the oak is less pronounced than in others, but the acid and thick tannin structure, along with the minerality, are impressive. This is a massively built wine without the massive fruit. The finish is long, dense, and tannic, with sweet oak, tannin, graphite, and dark chocolate. Bravo! Drink from 2030 until 2038. (tasted January 2025) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 13.5%) NOT AVAILABLE IN THE USA

2022 Le Comte de Malartic, Pessac-Leognan – Score: 91 (QPR: GREAT)
THIS WINE IS NOT AVAILABLE in the USA. What we get is Mevushal. This note is for the NON-Mevushal wine.
The nose of this wine is ripe but also controlled, with good minerality, black and red, elegant, with floral notes, iron shavings, graphite, and dense smoke. The mouth of this medium-plus-bodied wine is nice but less structured than others from this vintage; a bit less acidity for me, with blackberry, plum, and enough tannin, with a minerality that shows nicely and nice mouth-draping tannin. The finish is long, tannic, and fruity, with graphite and smoke. Drink by 2031. (tasted January 2025) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 13.5%) NOT AVAILABLE IN THE USA

2022 Chateau d’Agassac Cru Bourgeois, Haut-Medoc – Score: 93+ (QPR: WINNER)
The nose of this wine is classic Cabernet-driven wine from Medoc, with rich black fruit, hints of red fruit, dense loam, minerality, and smoke. This is a rich and balanced wine on the nose with great pop. The mouth of this full-bodied wine is crazy fun. The acidity is off the charts, and the minerality is dense. This is a blackberry, cassis, and graphite-driven wine with rich loam and dirt, dense and layered but also focused. Bravo! The finish is long, dense, and rich, with hints of green notes, rich minerality, graphite, scraping mineral, dark chocolate, dense smoke, iron shavings, and loam. Bravo! Drink until 2038. (tasted January 2025) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 13.5%)

2022 Chateau Clarke Baron Edound de Rothschild, Listrac-Medoc – Score: 92+ (QPR: WINNER)
The nose of this wine is black fruit dominated by rich fruit, smoke, minerality, floral notes, roasted herbs, clay, and tar. The mouth of this full-bodied wine is lovely; it is a drop more elegant than the others, and so far, it makes me wonder if it is at the next level. The elegance is there at a different level, though it has less minerality and tannin structure. Still, it has lovely blackberry, plum, cassis, and raspberry, with mouth-draping tannin and lovely roasted herbs. The tar is also present with nice acidity and smoke. The finish is long and ripe, with roasted herbs and lovely minerality. It lacks a bit of structure but is elegant. Drink from 2028 until 2035. (tasted January 2025) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 14.5%)

2022 Chevalier de Lascombes, Margaux – Score: 93 (QPR: WINNER)
THIS WINE IS NOT AVAILABLE in the USA. What we get is Mevushal. This note is for the NON-Mevushal wine.
The nose of this wine is more Cali than Bordeaux, which has become the way with Chevalier recently. It shows dense black and blue fruit, smoke, loads of sweet oak, oak-driven sweet dill, intense milk chocolate, tar, and loam. The pop is there. This may well be the best Chevalier since 2017. The mouth of this full-bodied wine is more controlled than previous vintages; it still is pushed for me, but the wine is correct, with a dense and plush mouthfeel, something we have yet to taste, a rich, plush mouthfeel, but the fruit is pushed a bit with blackberry; blueberry, dark plum, and lovely minerality. The acidity is rich and helps make this pop. The finish is long, tannic, layered, and dense, with milk chocolate, sweet oak, mouth-drying tannin, tannic, and structured, with rich minerality, graphite, rock, and roasted herbs. Bravo! Drink from 2027 until 2037. (tasted January 2025) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 13.5%) NOT AVAILABLE IN THE USA

2022 Chateau Saint Corbian, Saint-Estephe – Score: 86 (QPR: EVEN)
This is the third time I have tasted this wine, and it has evolved a bit, but overall, the notes have not changed much. The nose of this wine is okay, not so bad. It is still a floral potpourri with raspberry, plum, more floral notes, and a hint of smoke. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is less floral than before, with red fruit, cranberry, plum, raspberry, and dark cherry. There is too much tannin, not enough body, not enough acidity. In the end, the wine is hollow and less enjoyable. The finish is not as long as hoped. It is tannic and floral, with some smoke, earth, and more jasmine. Drink by 2028. (tasted November 2024) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 14%)

2022 Chateau Le Crock, Saint-Estephe, Bordeaux – Score: 91 (QPR: GOOD)
THIS WINE IS NOT AVAILABLE in the USA. What we get is Mevushal. This note is for the NON-Mevushal wine.
This wine’s nose is better than the Mevushal version, with dense smoke, rich and black, more Medoc than Saint-Estephe, inky, smoky, tar, rich graphite, and loads of loam. The mouth of this full-bodied wine is intense, dense, layered, and black, with rich minerality. It lacks the acidity I crave. Still, the minerality, body, and structure help to lift the wine. The pop is also a bit lacking, with dense fruit and structure. The finish is long, tannic, and structured, with mouth-drying tannin, minerality, graphite, rock, and tar. Drink from 2028 until 2035. (tasted January 2025) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 15%) NOT AVAILABLE IN THE USA

2022 Pavillon de Leoville Poyferre, Saint-Julien (M) – Score: 89 (QPR: EVEN)
This wine is a blend of 50% Cabernet Sauvignon & 50% Merlot. The nose of this wine is ripe and candied, pushed at 14% ABV. It shows ripe and candied plums, black and red fruit, some minerality, too much oak, and too ripe and candied without the pop and brightness to bring this together. The mouth of this full-bodied wine lacks the acidity it needs. It feels ripe and pushed. It has the plushness you would want with nice tannin, blackberry, plum, raspberry, too much oak, and some graphite. The wine overall is quite nice; what it lacks is acidity. The fruit and the structure are on point. The finish is long and ripe, but the tannin and minerality help. Still, the lack of acidity hurts it. Drink from 2029 until 2035. (tasted January 2025) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 14%)

2022 Chateau Moulin Riche, Saint-Julien, Bordeaux – Score: 94 (QPR: WINNER)
This wine is a blend of 79% Cabernet Sauvignon and 21% Merlot. The nose of this wine is lovely. It is black and blue, with dense fruit and some nice floral notes. It is rich and dense, with minerality and tar that lifts along with bright fruit. The mouth of this full-bodied wine is lovely, layered, extracted, elegant, dense, and rich, like a bull in a Chinese shop. It has dense blackberry, raspberry, cassis, and plum, backed by great acidity, rich minerality, smoke, earth, and layers of minerality, graphite, rock, and tar. Lovely! The finish is dense, rich, smoky, and mineral-driven, with incredible fruit focus and incredible minerality, yet so elegant, the dark chocolate, graphite, pencil shavings, and rich tannin, bay leaf, and menthol, all wrapped in a dense and plush approach. Quite impressive. Drink from 2032 until 2040. (tasted January 2025) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 14%)

2022 Clos Triguedina Probus, Cahors – Score: 92+ (QPR: WINNER)
The nose of this wine is ripe and classic, with meaty notes and roasted beef. It is very elegant, not overripe or over-oaked, and has a real balance. It has an elegance of black and blue fruit, smoke, rich toast, and floral notes. The mouth of this full-bodied wine is dense, inky, rich paraffin, waxy, dirty, and meaty. It has blackberry, plum, and boysenberry flavors, rich minerality, and is inky black. It is balanced by great acidity, sweet spices, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, menthol, and rich mouth-coating tannin. It is structured and dense. The finish is lovely, layered, expressive, rich, and dense, with more sweet spices, along with ribbons of minerality, graphite, charcoal, and tar, not as sweet to show root beer, this is more mature, more elegant, a proper approach to Malbec. Bravo! Drink from 2028 until 2035. (tasted January 2025) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 13.5%)

2022 Chateau Bellefont-Belcier, Saint-Emilion Grand Cru Classe – Score: 91 (QPR: GOOD)
The nose of this wine is ripe, showing intense oak, milk chocolate, black and red fruit, loads of toast, and loam. The mouth of this full-bodied wine is ripe and more controlled than in 2020, with rich salinity minerality, but the ripe fruit and plush mouthfeel take center stage. The fruit and minerality help with the mouthfeel, as the acidity is a tad behind. The mouth shows blackberry, dark plum, cassis, dark raspberry, rich smoke, and searing tannin; the acidity is a step behind, making for a wine a bit out of balance at this time. The finish is long, tannic, fruity, ripe, not candied, with a dense minerality that saves the show. I wish more of the Cabernet Franc appeared. This is Merlot-dominated, with a tad of Cabernet Sauvignon right behind. Drink from 2027 until 2025. (tasted January 2025) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 15%)

2022 Chateau le Gay, Pomerol – Score: 94 (QPR: GOOD)
This is the 3rd time I have had this wine, and it is in a very different place. The nose of this wine is nice, balanced, ripe, not pushed, with no heat at all, showing beautiful minerality, rich expression, concentration, jammy but elegant fruit, with black and blue fruit, raspberry, smoke, earth, and graphite all coming together. It’s really nice.
The mouth of this full-bodied wine starts with oak, ripe, not candied, balanced, with great acidity and elegance, blackberry, black pepper, dark raspberry, and boysenberry. It is rich, ripe, and plush, very nice, with an intense minerality and graphite presence, backed by a rich and mouth-draping tannin structure and dense fruit. The oak issues I had before are already calming down. The fruit, structure, tannin, elegance, and incredible acidity all come together with mouth-draping but also drying tannins to make a monster of a wine. This is a very special wine and quite impressive.
The finish is long, ripe, and structured, with black fruit, tannin, cacao, a nice oak influence, scraping graphite, lovely pencil shavings, rock, sweet tobacco, and roasted herbs. Bravo! Drink from 2032 until 2042. (tasted January 2025) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 14.5%)

2022 Chateau Giscours, Margaux – Score: 90+ (QPR: GOOD)
The nose of this wine of this wine starts with milk chocolate, rich oak notes, dark and brooding with black and blue fruit, some minerality, sweet spices, menthol, tar, and roasted herbs. The heat on the nose is a bit worrying. The mouth of this full-bodied wine is nice; I would have liked a bit more acidity with blackberry, plum, and boysenberry. It was a bit cloying, lacking balance, and feeling the heat. Overall, the wine is a bit off. The mouth is plush and big and bold, but it needs more minerality and acidity to bring it together. The finish is okay. The lack of acidity really throws this all off, with the ripeness, heat, and fruit, followed by milk chocolate, tobacco, and smoke. Drink from 2029 until 2037. (tasted January 2025) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 14%)

2022 Chateau Lascombes, Margaux – Score: 91+ (QPR: GOOD)
The nose of this wine is ripe, showing a bit of heat, with loads of milk chocolate, black and blue fruit, brooding fruit, loads of oak influence, smoke, tar, sweet spices, and roasted herbs. Margaux is not showing as well in 2022 as in other regions. The mouth of this full-bodied wine also lacks the acidity I expected; the blackberry, plum, and boysenberry are expected from Margaux, but it needs more acidity and minerality to balance the massive mouth-drying tannin structure and the overall fruit profile. The fruit, tannin, and heat make for a heavy wine. There is a bit of minerality back there along with tar, but the fruit, drying tannin, and oak overpower. The finish is long, tannic, a bit hot, a bit unbalanced, with more milk chocolate and more sweet oak, all leaving me a bit underwhelmed. Drink from 2028 until 2035. (tasted January 2025) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 14.5%)

2022 Chateau Malartic Lagraviere Grand Cru Classe de Graves, Pessac Leognan – Score: 94+ (QPR: WINNER)
The nose of this wine is glorious and beautiful, everything I want from a wine: intense minerality, lovely pop, rich graphite, ripe black fruit, cassis, smoke, roasted herb, tar, loam, followed by gravel, dirt, menthol, sweet oak, and baking spices. Bravo! The mouth of this full-bodied wine is layered, concentrated, and extracted, but in control, with lovely fruit focus, incredible acidity, dense with blackberry, cassis, plum, hints of blueberry, dry, not ripe or candied or anything like that. This is a wonderful example of what you could do with 2022: dry wine with ripe fruit; the overall profile is bone dry with blackberry, cassis, smoke, menthol, gravel, mouth-draping tannin, elegance, without being plush and ripe, a true proof of what a great wine looks like in 2022. The finish is long, layered, concentrated, and glorious, with more graphite, pencil shavings, gravel, and dense smoke. Bravo! Drink from 2030 until 2042. (tasted January 2025) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 14%)

2022 Chateau Meyney, Saint-Estephe – Score: 92+ (QPR: WINNER)
The nose of this wine is ripe, almost candied, with floral notes. It shows ripe black and blue fruit, rich minerality, smoke, dense earth, gravel, and smoke. The mouth of this full-bodied wine is nice; it shows more balance than in previous vintages, with blackberry, plum, cassis, blueberry, and ripe fruit, but the acidity and minerality help things out a lot. The blackberry and plum show nicely with the good minerality, graphite, more bitter charcoal, ribbons of minerality, mouth-drying tannin, and lovely acidity with tar and graphite. Nice! The finish is long, dirty, earthy, smoky, and nice. Drink from 2028 until 2034. (tasted January 2025) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 14%)

2022 Chateau LaGrange, Saint-Julien – Score: 94 (QPR: WINNER)
The nose of this wine is riper than some other 2022 wines, but it has lovely control. The nose pops with acidity and has everything you want in a nose: crazy pop, smoke, black and red fruit, minerality, loam, and tar. Bravo! The mouth of this full-bodied wine is nice. It has some balance issues, but the ripeness is not the issue as much as the overall picture is a bit off here and there. The mouth of this full-bodied wine has incredible acidity, but the fruit sticks out, the blackberry, plum, and raspberry are a bit candied, but the minerality and acidity help, with lovely graphite, intense mouth-drying tannin structure, rich smoke, tar, and rich earth. The finish is long, dirty, mineral-driven, and ripe, with milk chocolate, graphite, and dirt. Drink from 2028 until 2035. (tasted January 2025) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 14.5%)

2022 Chateau Leoville Poyferre, Saint-Julien – Score: 94 (QPR: GOOD)
This wine is a blend of 63% Cabernet Sauvignon, 32% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc, & 1% Petit Verdot. The nose of this wine is lovely, rich, and elegant, with tar, ripe red and black fruit, green notes, roasted herbs, sweet spices, beautiful minerality, and great smoke.  The mouth of this full-bodied wine is beautiful, stunning, rich, dense, controlled, elegant, and draping, with mouth-draping tannin, blackberry, plum, raspberry, rich saline, and minerality that is off-the-charts, tense, and focused with an attack that is incredible. Bravo! The finish is long, dense, rich, extracted, and yet elegant, along with more dark fruit, more pop, minerality, graphite, loam, and rock; just lovely, and it lasts forever. Bravo!! This wine is the most accessible one of all the high-end 2022 wines. Drink from 2035 until 2045. (tasted January 2025) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 14.5%)

2022 Chateau Pontet-Canet Grand Cru Classe en 1855, Pauillac – Score: 95 (QPR: GREAT)
The nose of this wine is lovely; it is very closed at the start, and it is beautiful, dense, ripe, balanced, clean lines, with rich minerality, smoke, almost perfumed with the minerality and fruit, graphite, gravel, floral notes, and rich loam. The mouth of this full-bodied wine is beautiful, layered, elegant, not overly extracted or concentrated, rich with salinity, minerality, graphite, blackberry, cassis, currants, dark cherry, scraping minerality, mouth-drying but fine tannins, and lovely roasted herbs. This is the most balanced wine we have had so far in 2022. It is beautiful, balanced, refreshing, and focused. The finish is long, dirty, and dense, but it is perfectly balanced, even given the ripeness of the fruit. It is a tour-de-force for the 2022 vintage. The graphite, minerality, mouth-draping tannin, and lovely smoke are nice. Bravo! Drink from 2037 until 2045. (tasted January 2025) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 14.5%)

2023 J De Villebois Sancerre Silex, Sancerre – Score: 92 (QPR: GREAT)
The wine I tasted in the USA is NOT as good! There was an issue with the transport from France to the USA. What I tasted here in France is lovely! The nose of this wine is lovely, ripe, yet balanced, with gooseberry, honeysuckle, smoke, lemon, and jasmine, nice! The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is lovely, bright, and balanced, with good tension. It shows gooseberry, lemon, orange, and smoke, with scraping minerality and smoke. Lovely! Refreshing and lovely! The finish is long, tart, juicy, focused, and refreshing, with more tension, flint, slate, and scarping minerality. Lovely! Drink by 2027. (tasted January 2025) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 13%)

2022 Chateau Piada, Sauternes – Score: 92 (QPR: WINNER)
The nose of this wine is controlled, with lovely funk, ripe pineapple, ripe and juicy guava, mango, and many other tropical fruits, chamomile, sweet honeysuckle, and honeyed notes, with some balance of nice tart citrus fruit. The mouth of this full-bodied wine is balanced, the mouth shows the same balance and elegance as the nose, with great acidity, with a lovely plush and oily mouthfeel, with the aforementioned funk, sweet honeyed melon, honeyed guava, mango, sweet peach, tart and balancing grapefruit, and nice minerality, even a bit of saline, nice! The finish is long, mineral, sweet, not ripe, graphite, saline, more funk, and honeysuckle lingering long. Nice! Drink from 2028 until 2040. (tasted January 2025) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 14.5%)