Gorgeous floral aromatics, so perfumed and pretty, really leaping out the glass with an amazingly vibrant pink/purple colour too. Such an excellent delivery of flavour on the palate, you have shiny, bright fruit and well-expressed terroir with smooth and supportive tannins. It shows the heat of the vintage in the density and deep core of spice-edged red and black fruit but also has a juicy, bright acidity that underpins the fruit and keeps things refreshing. Full of elegance, precision and confidence - all the elements in harmony with consistency and persistence. A wonderful wine. (GH)

A blend of 65% Cabernet Sauvignon and 35% Merlot, aged 17 months in barrel before bottling. This was tasted microseconds after the cork was pulled, the first bottle having been replaced as it was faulty;it opens with a nose of perfumed and crystalline fruit, with piles of smoky oak here too. The palate is fresh, rather modestly composed, medium-bodied with an understated texture which carries layers of dark fruits. Nicely delineated, in a bright and pure style, with good density. As it opens out it gradually reveals veins of darker fruit, especially black olive, and the structure shows a more serious side, with a long and ripe grip of tannins. Giscours has really raised its game in the last couple of vintages, and the 2019 seems to be a wine in that same vein.

The 2019 Giscours has turned out very well in bottle, wafting from the glass with aromas of sweet berries, cherries, burning embers, lilac and violets framed by a discreet patina of new oak. Full-bodied, layered and concentrated, it's polished and perfumed, with a velvety, seamless profile and bright animating acids, concluding with a long, resonant finish. Alexandre Van Beek and his team are taking this estate to heights it hasn't hit since the 1970s, and this is another of the great bargains of the 2019 en primeur campaign. (WK)