Muscular, slow to open, firm tannins that are still closing in around the fruit, at first highlighting the austere edge of limestone. Take your time with this, because there is a beautiful wave of espresso, cocoa bean, campfire smoke, cassis and damson that hits through the mid palate, and becomes irresistable after a few hours in the glass. Hovering on the edge of its drinking window, but there are decades ahead. Nicolas Thienpont and Stéphane Derenoncourt arrived as consultant winemakers in 2009, so this was the second vintage under their direction, and it's holding up extrememely well, showcasing the more concentrated style that they introduced. Bernard Oizeau cellar master, yields of 21hl/h.

This is 86% Merlot, picked between September 24th and October 4th, and 14% Cabernet Franc, picked October 4th and 7th, with a yield of 45 hl/ha. It shows a glossy and concentrated hue in the glass. Aromatically this seems to marry the best features seen in some of its peers, showing lovely intensity of fruit, with concentration but also a very fresh and pure style. I get dark red cherry on the nose, pure and elegant, slightly degraded, and laced with oaky tobacco, spice and leather. And while the palate starts off understated, with an elegantly framed presence, it immediately drops a weight of dark and concentrated fruits, with blackcurrant, black bean and black cherry, wrapped up in a sooty substance. Very poised, elegant, and yet charged with stacks of peppery energy, this has plenty to offer. Excellent potential here, savoury and structured, with great concentration.

From one of my favorite châteaux on the Right Bank, the 2019 Château Beauséjour (Duffau-Lagarrosse) is 86% Merlot and 14% Cabernet Franc brought up in a mix of new and used barrels. It's a tighter, more closed 2019, yet it offers beautiful purity and focus in its cassis and black raspberry fruits as well as notes of tobacco leaf, graphite, chocolate, and chalky minerality. Rich, medium to full-bodied, beautifully balanced, and again, with this remarkable purity and precision, it has enough tannins to warrant 4-6 years in the cellar and will be incredibly long-lived. It's a beautiful Saint-Emilion. It’s worth pointing out that the 2019 is the vintage bottled by Nicolas Thienpont and starting in 2021, the estate is in the hands of Josephine Duffau-Lagarrosse. (JD) 96+