Lovely aromatics of ripe black fruits edged with violet flowers and smoked cedar. This is powerful, you feel the punch and the sense of momentum, impressive grip that opens up to show charcoal, chocolate and slate, lovely balance and character, young but starting to open up, full of class and appellation signature. One of the values of the tasting. Harvest September 20 to October 18, lasting almost a full calendar month.

The 2016 de Pez appears to be benefitting from a long-term replanting program at the estate. This is a blend of 53% Merlot, 42% Cabernet Sauvignon, 3.5% Petit Verdot and 1.5% Cabernet Franc. The IPT is quite high at 80, and there is 13.9% alcohol. It has a pure and comely bouquet with black cherries and blackcurrant pastilles, just a touch of crushed violets that emerge with time. The palate is really quite lovely: very well balanced with a fine line of acidity, quite saline in the mouth, perhaps the finest tannic structure that I have encountered during many years of tasting this Saint Estèphe, with a long persistent finish. Maybe this is the "dark horse" of the appellation this year. (NM)

The 2016 Château de Pez is a blend of 53% Merlot, 42% Cabernet Sauvignon with the remaining Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc. This beautifully made wine which opens to fresh aromas of ripe currants and red berries followed by licorice, floral blossoms and hints of peppery spices that all develop in the glass. Medium-bodied with fine-grained tannins and a lovely elegant mouthfeel. It displays plenty of structure and wonderful overall balance, this is a very pretty wine which should evolve gracefully and offer a drinking window close to two decades long.