94-96 Jeb Dunnuck - jebdunnuck.com

As to the Grand Vin 2022 Château Clerc Milon, it reminds me of the 2018 with its full-bodied, ripe, yet elegant style. Cassis, graphite, espresso roast, and lead pencil notes define the aromatics, and it has a beautiful spine of acidity, ripe tannins, and a great finish. It shows the ripe, exuberant yet structured style of the vintage beautifully. The blend is 59% Cabernet Sauvignon, 32% Merlot, 8% Cabernet Franc, and 1% Carmenère, harvested between the 9th and 26th of September, with an alcohol content of 14.5%, a pH of 3.83, and an IPT of 74. The élevage here is 55% new French oak. Tasted multiple times with consistent notes.

95-96 James Suckling - Jamessuckling.com

Focused and bright with plenty of fruit but oranges and minerals in the mid-palate. Really fresh with a fresh bitterness.

93-95 William Kelley - Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

The 2022 Clerc Milon is beautiful, offering up aromas of cherries, raspberries and plums mingled with hints of pencil shavings and rose petals. Medium to full-bodied, layered and concentrated, it's taut and lively, with a vibrant core of fruit framed by fine, chalky tannins. Its clay-limestone terroir lends it a distinctive signature that sets it apart from the rest of the portfolio.

95 Georgina Hindle - Decanter

Fragrant, perfumed black berries and purple flowers. Smells intense and concentrated, deep, dark and rich. Bold and characterful from the first sip, supple and generous, a lovely shot of strawberry and red cherry fruit gives the tang and immediate excitement while the tannins, stoney and cool, enter and give the frame and focus for the finish. Really well made, great drive but plush at the same time, it’s silky yet well defined and also weighty and forward. A big mouthful that is just so juicy and fun, lively, expressive, well worked and so easy. A step-up from Pastourelle. Super accessible and really enjoyable with the sweet juicy tang that I adore and stony minerality on the finish that is moreish. Immediate pleasure on offer. 12.8% press wine. 1% Carmenere completes the blend. HVE3 certified. Ageing 18 months in French oak barrels, 55% new. 3.83pH.

93-95 Lisa Perrotti-Brown - The Wine Independent

The 2022 Clerc Milon is a blend of 59% Cabernet Sauvignon, 32% Merlot, 8% Cabernet Franc, and 1% Carmenere. Deep garnet-purple in color, it races out with vivacious notes of fresh blackcurrants, black raspberries, and boysenberries, leading to touches of bay leaves, Indian spices, and garrigue. The full-bodied palate is packed with black fruit and savory layers, framed by firm, grainy tannins and seamless freshness, finishing long with an herbal lift. pH 3.83, TPI 74.

95 Jane Anson - Inside Bordeaux

The depths are evident in the velvety texture and colour, and it stretches out through the palate with slow confidence. Plenty of grip and supple tannins that cradle the cassis and bilberry fruit, studded with olive, cocoa bean, white pepper, slate, clear spice, intense phenolics and this is excellent quality. Caroline Artaud technical director. Old vine Carmanère no doubt helps add the spice and eucalyptus edge. 63% of production in this wine, 55% new oak, 3.83ph. 37hl/h yield.

91-93 Antonio Galloni - Vinous

The 2022 Clerc Milon is plump, juicy and vibrant, with terrific energy and tons of class. Sumptuous black cherry, gravel, licorice, menthol and spice are beautifully dialed up in this decidedly flamboyant edition of Clerc Milon.

92 James Suckling - Jamessuckling.com

Crushed seashells, chalk, salted lemons and sliced apples on the nose. Bone-dry salinity brings out plenty of briny austerity on a textured, medium-bodied palate. Pithy and gastronomic in the finish. I like the fact that this is not a fruity but rather a bony albarino. Bring on the oysters! Drink now.

97-99 Jeb Dunnuck - jebdunnuck.com

Moving to the Grand Vin, it's a slightly more Merlot-influenced blend of 82% Cabernet Sauvignon and 18% Merlot, raised in new barrels. It brings the same level of concentration and structure as the La Croix but has another level of class, elegance, and purity, with sensational aromatics of crème de cassis, graphite, crushed stone, sandalwood, and graphite. The purity here is truly remarkable, and it hits the palate with full-bodied richness, perfectly integrated oak, silky tannins, and a great finish. This beauty hit 14% natural alcohol with a pH of 3.8 and an IPT of 95. Given its balance as well as its texture, it's going to offer pleasure with just short-term cellaring yet also evolve for decades.

97-99 Lisa Perrotti-Brown - The Wine Independent

The 2022 Ducru-Beaucaillou is made from 82% Cabernet Sauvignon and 18% Merlot with a yield of 29 hl/ha, and represents 25% of the year's production. Deep garnet-purple in color, it soars out of the glass with graceful, energetic notes of crushed blackcurrants, redcurrant preserves, wild blueberries, and dark chocolate, followed by touches of violets, clove oil, cumin seed, and cast-iron pan. The medium to full-bodied palate is built like a skyscraper, delivering very firm, super-ripe, grainy tannins and seamless freshness to support the densely laden, vibrant black fruits, finishing very long with a spectacular display of mineral and floral fireworks. pH 3.80, TPI 95.

97-98 James Suckling - Jamessuckling.com

Some much creme de cassis and blackcurrant aromas and flavors here. Full-bodied with powerful tannins, yet fine and layered. Chewy. You can really feel the thick grape skins here. Excellent length. Tannins spread across the palate. Minerally and crushed stone.

98 Jane Anson - Inside Bordeaux

Deep damson colour, poised and intense, a serious wine with crushed mint, graphite and bitter black chocolate on the opening beats, setting the tone for a slow reveal of confident St Julien character. Powerful tannins convey purity and precision, set against creamy cassis and bilberry fruits, with softer smoked earth and baked spice, and a slate finish. The construction is careful and measured, extremely impressive, this is has decades ahead. 3.8ph, 95IPT. 100% new oak. 30hl/h yield.

95-97 Antonio Galloni - Vinous

The 2022 Ducru-Beaucaillou is elegant and nuanced. Bright red/purplish fruit, rose petal, blood orange, mint and spice give the 2022 unusual brilliance. In most recent vintages, Ducru has been on the opulent side. The 2022, on the other hand, is strict and linear in construction, a wine that is more about persistence than size. Bright saline underpinnings extend the mid-palate into the striking, beaming finish. Harvest took place over four weeks, the longest ever, as opposed to the two weeks or so that is the norm. Yields were 30hL per hectare, down from the 35-37 typical in recent years.

97 Georgina Hindle - Decanter

Beautiful and beguiling nose, perfumed blackcurrants and dark fruits; damsons, plums, raspberries and rose petals. Lovely crunchy fruit, real bite and presence in the mouth. Excellent precision, tannins are succulent and ripe they fill the mouth with a juicy, intense granular texture. There is such depth to this - perfume, tobacco, earth, violets and concentrated fruits that have a verticality to them with an unprecedented 98% of Cabernet Sauvignon providing the support and the backbone. There is a crystalline purity to the fruit giving tension to the overall frame, it’s focused and driven all with excellent definition. This is not a wallflower of a wine - it’s charming and confident, strutting its stuff right now and giving you absolut St-Julien terroir and vintage markers in the glass with slate, graphite and liquorice salinity on show. Skilled winemaking on show.

94-96 William Kelley - Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

One of the Médoc's most powerful wines this year is the 2022 Ducru-Beaucaillou, a blend of 82% Cabernet Sauvignon and 18% Merlot that opens in the glass with aromas of dark cherries and berries mingled with pencils shavings, vanilla pod and spices. Full-bodied, broad-shouldered and muscular, with a core of ripe but lively fruit underpinned by a chassis of powdery, liberally extracted tannin that asserts itself on the finish, it's a punchy, modern Saint-Julien reminiscent of a hypothetical blend of the 2018 and 2020.

95 Eric Guido - Vinous Media

The 2018 Schioppettino di Cialla is impossible to ignore. It's profoundly floral and herbal with rose petals, wilted violets, wet stone and ginger-tinged blackberry aromas. It opens with a pleasant inner sweetness and richer than expected, yet perfectly balanced, with depths of ripe wild berry fruits contrasted by spiced blood orange. For all of its depth and concentration, fresh acidity lifts the experience through the finish, leaving a candied citrus and white pepper tinge while tapering off classically dry. What a beauty. The 2018 is the child of a cool vintage, yet there's so much power and density here. Bury your bottles deep.

92 Tastings.com (Beverage Testing Institute)

"Clear straw green color. Fresh, yeasty aromas and flavors of greenhouse, cucumber, white flowers, palmier cookie, and dried tropical fruit with a round, vibrant, effervescent, dry-yet-fruity medium body and an appealing, medium-length finish with soft, fruit tannins. A rich and yeasty cava for celebrations and toasts."

99 California Wine Advisors

"The magical, boutique-production (about 8 barrels total) ‘Reserve’ Cabernet 2019 dazzles from the start with an alluring bouquet of black currant, plum, chocolate covered cherries and walnuts. Core notes of black cherry, ripe blackberry, and vanilla toasted oak convert to rich mocha and sweet and velvety smooth tannins. Seemingly endless layer upon layer of gorgeous dark fruit notes and spices that continue to unfold on the spellbinding finish. Astonishingly delicious now, this truly monumental effort is near perfect now and a candidate for triple digits with a bit of cellar time. Bravo! – November 2022"

97 Wine Enthusiast

"With a tremendously impressive opening nose of cassis and mocha, this wine offers a creamy texture that invites and lingers on the palate. Dust, rock and gun flint give it a savory, earthy edge that contrasts well against the lush layers of blue fruit and toasted oak. Enjoy best 2029–2039."

91 Wine Spectator

Expressive and robust, with raspberry and guava flavors that are highlighted by notes of rose petal and black tea as this builds tension toward medium-grained tannins. Drink now through 2030. 52,000 cases made.

90 Wine Enthusiast

Tasted early in its life, this Pinot Noir shows a lot of potential. Sweet hyacinth and ripe raspberry aromas gently mix with notes of cedar and dried blueberries. Cranberry and raspberry flavors offer a tart counterpoint, backed by clove, cinnamon, elevated acidity and velvety tannins.

92 Grapelive.com

Loads of upfront blackberry, dark currant, plum and candied cherry fruits and a richly tannic mouth feel that excites lovers of this varietal and also is backed up with hints of leather, toasty oak, dark chocolate, licorice, crushed violets and dried lavender accents. While 2016s have plenty of grip, they are starting to reveal a nice supple full bodied palate that delivers a hedonistic physical pleasure and lingering creamy aftertaste and this inky purple Petite is delicious and at its best with hearty meat dishes.

91 Antonio Galloni - Vinous

The 2020 Capbern remains quite the powerhouse, but it has come together well. Punchy red berry fruit, kirsch, gravel and white pepper all meld together in a Saint-Estèphe of class and personality. There's real depth and plenty of character. This is very nicely done. Tasted two times.

91 William Kelley - Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

The 2020 Capbern offers up aromas of sweet cassis, plums, pencil shavings, loamy soil and licorice, followed by a medium to full-bodied, rich and seamless palate that's polished, penetrating and dynamic. It's a blend of 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 1% Petit Verdot and the balance Merlot, produced by Vincent Millet and his team from Calon Ségur.