Note : 91
CHRIS KISSACK

As usual this is a blend of 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc, here from what was a successful vintage across Bordeaux as whole. Here we have a wine with a good depth of colour, a dark cherry red, with a fresh raspberry rim. I find plenty of youthful and rather smoky oak on the nose, coming through as toast, smoking fire embers and cigar box, intertwined with dark threads of fruit which call to mind toasted blackberry and currant. The palate naturally follows the lead of the nose, with medium-bodied substance, taut, constrained and sinewy, framed by lightly grained tannins and very fresh acidity. It has a beautifully dark and savoury flavour profile, with a little twist of caramelized sweetness at the end from the oak, which should fade with time. This has good potential.

Note : 90
Jane Anson

From a cooperation between this Russian-owned St-Emilion estate and the Art Russe Foundation, this delivers high impact oak and lashings of sweet cherry and cedar, balanced by an attractive lift and salinity on the finish. Louis Mitjavile consults.

Note : 91
ROGER VOSS

Owned by Russian businessman and art collector Andrei Filatov, the estate has launched special-edition wines with Russian art labels. This obviously wood-aged wine shows intense spice and some bitter toastiness that needs to soften to bring out blackberry fruits from the 90% Merlot in the blend.