CHÂTEAU BERLIQUET

Heavy black pepper spice, good lift through the palate, powerful drive and energy, with sculpted blue and black fruits and a pumice stone scrape. Harvest September 13 to October 5, 45hl/ha yield. 45hl/ha yield, in organic conversion. Tasted twice. Drinking range: 2028 - 2040 Rating: 92 Jane Anson, www.janeanson.com (May 2024)

The blend of the 2023 Berliquet is 60% Merlot and 40% Cabernet Franc, reflecting the vineyard, and the yield was 42 hl/ha. This was the first harvest coming into the newly renovated cuverie, replacing ten old vats with 24 smaller cuves, allowing for more precision. A rather dry and savoury nose here, perhaps even a little reticent, with lightly degraded cherry fruits, a little crystalline, with seams of smoke, leather, fragrant freesias and redcurrant. The palate is as finely honed as the nose suggested, with a very savoury flavour profile, with delicate red cherry, leather and tobacco, set in a modest and rather juicy frame, with a rich and confident frame of tannins. The first sample felt a little austere, but tasted at the château this was more coherent, with polished leather-tinged fruits, set in a modest texture, with all the acidity of the vintage and limestone tension of the plateau. A coherent finish. Tasted three times. The alcohol here is about 14%. Rating: 91-93 Chris Kissack, www.thewinedoctor.com (Apr 2024)

The 2023 Berliquet was picked 23 September to October 5 at 45hL/ha, matured in 34% new oak plus 10 amphorae. Initially, the nose is quite backward and doesn't want to play. Give it a few swirls and it opens to reveal black cherries, blackcurrant and a distant tang of oyster shell emanating from limestone soils. The palate is medium-bodied with a very harmonious entry. Finely weighted, tensile and slightly savory in style, this is very elegant, finishing with citrus-like freshness. Berliquet has definitely been in the ascendant in recent vintages, and this is another to add. Drinking range: 2028 - 2050 Rating: 93-95 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Apr 2024)