Red

This beautiful, elegant 2003 is a top-notch success for Margaux. More accessible and softer than usual, it boasts a deep ruby/purple color as well as a beautiful bouquet of flowers, black currants, plums, and underbrush. Medium-bodied, velvety-textured, opulent, and complex, it can be consumed now and over the next 10-15 years. - WA90

"Sweet coffee, mocha, leather, and black cherry and currant flavors dominate the pure, well-delineated, opulently-textured, hedonistic 1999 Valandraud. It possesses definition, length, and a singular personality." 90pts WA

75% Merlot and 25% Cabernet Franc.

93 points Decanter
Deep, intense brambly fruit unfurls gently over the palate. Not yet reached its tertiary stage but this knows where it is going, and doesn?????t mind taking a pause before softly sliding towards autumnal flavours. Tannins have a little extra bite on the finish. A very classy, classic St-Julien. Drinking Window 2016 - 2035.

92 points Wine Advocate
Deep garnet in color, the 2010 Lascombes gives up notes of dried herbs, tilled soil and black olives over a blackcurrant cordial and plums preserves core plus a touch of crushed rocks. Medium to full-bodied, the palate delivers chewy tannins and bold freshness to support the savory flavors, finishing with an herbal lift. Drink Window 2020-2038 (3/20)

Robert Parker in February 2013, "Probably the greatest Lascombes made to date, the 2010 is a blend of 55% Merlot, 45% Cabernet Sauvignon and the rest Petit Verdot."

#3 on The Wine Spectator Top 100 Wines of 2023!

96 points Wine Spectator
Gorgeous from the start, with cassis and violet notes leading off, followed by additional waves of black cherry and blackberry fruit as well as sweet tobacco and iron. Shows subtle savory and cedar hints that stay in the background, as the iron note pierces through the fruit on the finish. Almost approachable for the fruit, but wait if you can. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc. Best from 2026 through 2040

96 points Vinous
The 2020 Lynch-Bages, the first vintage vinified at the new winery, has a beautifully-defined bouquet with a strong estuarine influence, brine and seaweed infusing the black fruit. It's almost understated at first, but it opens wonderfully in the glass - quintessentially Pauillac. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannins, quite concentrated that is counterbalanced by a fine bead of acidity. The saline note on the finish is superb, lingering in the mouth. What an absolutely delicious Lynch-Bages for the long-term. Neal Martin

96 points Vinous
The 2020 Lynch-Bages is a real powerhouse. Elevage appears to have amplified the virile, brooding qualities that were present in barrel. In so many vintages, Lynch-Bages is a wine of elegance and finesse. Those qualities may emerge here too, in time. Black cherry, plum, espresso, licorice and lavender add to an impression of brooding intensity. Formidable tannins will take years to soften. The 2020 is a gorgeous wine, but it is also a very atypical Lynch. Antonio Galloni

#8 on The Wine Spectator Top 100 Wines of 2023!

97 points Wine Spectator
This has a very large-scaled yet properly proportioned core of cassis, plum and blackberry fruit flavors that are remarkably pure and focused. Buried deep within is a sleek, vibrant iron spine that drives the finish as the fruit keeps pace. Extra savory, tobacco and cedar nuances fill out all the remaining available space. A towering wine, with a buttoned-up feel. Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Best from 2030 through 2045

98+ points Jeb Dunnuck
The flagship 2020 Chateau Pichon-Longueville Baron is pure gold, a full-bodied, rich, powerful 2020 displaying the vintage's purity, focus, and structure front and center. A blend of 76% Cabernet Sauvignon and 24% Merlot, its dense purple hue is followed by a mammoth-sized bouquet of cassis, blackberries, smoked earth, graphite, and cedar pencil. With ripe tannins, a seamless, layered mouthfeel, and one heck of a finish, it comes closest in my mind to the estate 2010, and I think is clearly in the same realm as the 1989, 1990, 2000, 2009, 2010, 2015, and 2019. It offers pleasure today, but it certainly warrants 7-8 years, a decade if possible, of bottle age and will have 40-50 years of overall longevity.

98 points Vinous
As I found before, the 2020 Pichon Baron takes a while to open in the glass. Finally, it offers enticing blackberry and boysenberry fruit, peony and iris flower, hints of graphite and black truffle. The palate is medium-bodied with fine grain tannins, again, displaying outstanding symmetry and focus, fresh as a daisy with a strong and mineral-driven finish. Christian Seely and his team have overseen a splendid Pichon Baron for the ages. Blue-blooded Pauillac. (Antonio Galloni)

#8 on The Wine Spectator's Top 100 Wines of 2023!
97 points Wine Spectator
This has a very large-scaled yet properly proportioned core of cassis, plum and blackberry fruit flavors that are remarkably pure and focused. Buried deep within is a sleek, vibrant iron spine that drives the finish as the fruit keeps pace. Extra savory, tobacco and cedar nuances fill out all the remaining available space. A towering wine, with a buttoned-up feel. Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Best from 2030 through 2045.

Organic

97-99 points Jeb Dunnuck
This ch??teau has been firing on all cylinders of late, no doubt due to the talents of technical director Nicolas Audebert, and a wine that's going to flirt with perfection is their 2022 Ch??teau Rauzan-S??gla. Powerful notes of black cherries, currants, smoked tobacco, chocolate, and leafy herbs all define the aromatics, and it hits the palate with full-bodied richness, a deep, layered, concentrated texture, ripe yet building tannins, and a great finish. This is a legit great wine that's going to rival the 2010, 2015, 2016, 2018, and 2020.

97-98 points James Suckling
The freshness and clarity of the fruit is really something with black currants and cherries. Brilliant. Full-bodied, layered and round with polished tannins. I like the intensity and focus with such precision and gorgeousness. Is this the 2016 plus more?

97 points Decanter
Gorgeously fragranced on the nose with perfumed black fruits and pink flowers - smells very Margaux. Clean and crisp, a beautiful precision from the start with ripe and rich fruit but cool fresh acidity and sleek, fine tannins. A little shy, still compact and tightly knitted, but lovely detail, so well worked, almost delicate but there's still quite fleshy, plush fruit. Excellent concentration but delivered with an easy sleight of hand, expanding with time in the glass. Glamorous, scented, inviting, deep and seductive. A brilliant and totally moreish wine. Yield of 30hl/ha. 3.7pH. 17% press wine. Harvest 2-28 September. Ageing in French oak for 14-16 months, 15% new. In organic conversion. Tasted twice.

"A powerful, rich wine as good as many cru classes. Inky color and intense vanilla, violet and cassis aromas; full-bodied, with great balance, full but integrated tannins and a long finish." 94pts WS