94 Wine Spectator

Stylish and silky, relying on higher-toned red currant, cherry and raspberry fruit aromas and flavors, with red tea, savory and subtle mineral details throughout. Features a late echo of worn leather, which adds nice contrast on the finish. Grenache and Syrah. Best from 2023 through 2038. 400 cases made, 200 cases imported.

93 Matthew Luczy - Robert Parkers The Wine Advocate

The 2023 Syrah Bassi Vineyard is the centerpiece of Scar of the Sea's lineup, evoking a classically made St. Joseph by way of new-school California freshness. The nose is loaded with black and blue fruits, black pepper, beautiful floral tones and a savory, meaty undercurrent lined with iodine-laden, saline accents. Medium-bodied and immensely elegant on the palate with a signature umami-driven texture, it concludes with a lifted, minty herbal freshness and weightless dark-fruited intensity. It is a beautiful wine already, and I look forward to tasting it over the next 5-7 years.

97-100 Jeb Dunnuck - jebdunnuck.com

I was blown away by the 2022 Château Léoville Poyferré, which is a classic blend of 58% Cabernet Sauvignon, 34% Merlot, and 4% each of Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. Harvest spanned from the 8th to the 28th of September, the vinification is in tronconique tanks (parcel by parcel), and the élevage will span 18-20 months in 80% new barrels. This inky hued beauty offers that rare mix of power and elegance and offers ample cassis and assorted blue fruits, full-bodied richness, an opulent, concentrated, yet flawlessly balanced mouthfeel, velvety tannins, and plenty of classic Saint-Julien violets, espresso roast, and crushed stone-like minerality. Despite its incredible concentration and depth, it stays beautifully balanced. In a region that seems to only talk about finesse and elegance, it's a relief to still have producers such as this producing powerful, intense, singular wines. Hats off to the Cuvelier family and their team.

96-98 Lisa Perrotti-Brown - The Wine Independent

The 2022 Leoville Poyferre is made from 58% Cabernet Sauvignon, 34% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc, and 4% Petit Verdot, with a yield of 33.4 hl/ha. It bursts onto the scene with gregarious scents of blackcurrant preserves, wild blueberries, and rose oil, leading to wafts of candied violets, licorice, and crushed rocks with a hint of cinnamon stick. The medium to full-bodied palate is rich, plush, and impactful, delivering beautiful tension and very respectable, fine-grained tannins, finishing long and opulent. This is a show-stopper!

95-97 Neal Martin - Vinous Media

The 2022 Léoville Poyferré was picked 8 to 28 September at 33.4hL/ha and matured in 80% new oak. It has a high IPT of 93 and 14.4% alcohol (half a degree less than the 2018). It is quintessentially LP on the nose, with those extravagant and sensual black and blueberry fruit, intermingling with crushed violet and iris. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannins, very harmonious and focused, perhaps more linear than expected with a velvety-smooth finish. This is a very classy, sophisticated Saint-Julien that may well rest at the top of my banded score once in bottle.

96-97 James Suckling - Jamessuckling.com

A very solid LP with black berry, blackcurrant, crushed stone and lavender character. Full and really well structured with a linear length to it. Focused and so polished. Thoughtful. 58% cabernet sauvignon, 34% merlot, 4% cabernet franc and 4% petit verdot.

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

The 2022 Léoville Poyferré has turned out very nicely, offering up aromas of crème de cassis, cherries, violets and creamy new oak, followed by a medium to full-bodied, rich and fleshy palate that's ripe but lively, with supple tannins and a long, vanillin-inflected finish. This year, the team began picking their Merlot comparatively early and didn't perform a saignée (tank bleed), given the natural concentration of the vintage, though it remains the most flamboyant and demonstrative of the three Léoville estates, seeing some 80% new oak with malolactic fermentation in barrique for the new barrels. It will be a blend of 58% Cabernet Sauvignon, 34% Merlot and the balance Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot.

96 Georgina Hindle - Decanter

Another excellent showcasse for this estate run by Sara Lecompte Cuvelier. Supple, lively, fresh and round, a nice controlled core of red and black fruit - blackcurrants, cherries and violets with juicy acidity and lean tannins that are fine and well integrated. This feels powerful and concentrated no doubt but the strength comes underneath the fruit and acidity, like a creeping tiger waiting to pounce. Lovely frame and execution, feels on the more opulent and potent side but the acidity and tannin definition is brilliant and this has a really drinkable and moreish quality. 4% Petit Verdot completes the blend. 3.87pH. 9% press wine. A yield of 33.4hl/ha. 75% grand vin production. Julien Viaud consultant. Tasted three times and was impressed each time. Ageing 18-20 months in French oak barrels, 80% new, 20% second fill.

96 Jane Anson - Inside Bordeaux

Dense and succulent fruit and tannins, beautifully powerful, with fresh acidities, beautifully spicy with notes of black cherries, fresh figs, eucalyptus, rosemary, rose petals and cassis. Muscular tannins shot through with salted caramel sweetness, lifted by saffran and slate. Accomplished, impressive. Harvest September 8 to 28. 80% new oak from 16 different coopers.

93 Luis Gutierrez - Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

The 2022 Pétalos was produced with 85% Mencía, 10% white grapes and 5% other reds from over 90 hectares, 20% owned by them and the rest from 180 families. It fermented with some full clusters in oak and stainless steel vats and matured in barrels of different sizes for 10 months. It's clearly more Mediterranean, with notes of rockrose and other aromatic herbs, juicy and round, more fruit-driven, aromatic, velvety and very pleasant and easy to drink. It has 13.5% alcohol with a pH of 3.54. It's still not all bottled, as it's done in different lots, for a total of around 270,000 bottles and 3,000 magnums.

94 Wine Enthusiast

This wine is the Chanel dress or black suit that never goes out of style. Elegant and well-crafted, the wine shows the patience of a good wine grower. Aromas of ripe cherries and red currants lift with mixed wild flowers, camphor and turned earth on the nose. Graceful on the palate with elegant tannins that grip with a velvet glove and hold the fruit and savory flavors all in balance. Artisanal craft at its best. Drink 2026–2040.

94 Luis Gutierrez - Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

The textbook 2023 Leirana is elegant, clean and expressive, with notes of white flowers and fruit, fine lees and herbs. It fermented and matured in stainless steel and 80% in oak foudres for six months. The palate is medium-bodied with good ripeness and a moderate 12.4% alcohol, keeping the freshness and balance and finishing with a bitter and salty twist. This is very tasty. 50,000 bottles. It was bottled in March 2024.

95-100 John Gilman - View from the Cellar

‘Domaine Huët’s 2022 Vouvray “le Mont” Moelleux is another prodigiously beautiful young wine. The bouquet is deep, precise and shows a lovely touch of exotica in its aromatic constellation of sweet quince, pear, orange blossoms, white lilies, honeysuckle, chalky soil tones, honeycomb and bee pollen. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied and a bit sweeter in personality than the le Haut Lieu Moelleux, with stunning depth at the core, a fine girdle of acidity, great focus and grip and a long, complex, seamlessly balanced and dancing finish. Great juice. 2023-2085+’