En Primeur 2024

Unfurling in the glass with a gently reductive bouquet of smoke, white flowers, citrus and oak, the 2024 Larrivet Haut-Brion Blanc is medium-bodied, supple and juicy with a sappy attack and a long, elegant finish despite some clove notes in the aftertaste.

Score: 88 - 90 William Kelley, Wine Advocate, RobertParker.com Maturity: 2026 - 2032

The 2024 Larrivet Haut-Brion Blanc comes across a little oaky on the nose at present, so the question is how well that will integrate during its élevage and in bottle. The palate is more peachy and tropical in style, which might lend it wider appeal, but I have encountered more complex vintages in recent years.

Score: 88 - 90 Neal Martin, Vinous.com Maturity: 2027-2042

Aromas of cassis, lilac and nicely integrated creamy new oak introduce the 2024 Lascombes, a medium to full-bodied, dense and youthfully structured young wine underpinned by a bright spine of acidity and concluding with gently chewy tannins. This was cropped at 38 hectoliters per hectare and saw a combination of tank bleeds and reverse osmosis to amp up its concentration. Maturation is in 60% new oak, with lighter toasts than was formerly the case at this address.

Score: 89 - 91 William Kelley, Wine Advocate, RobertParker.com

The 2024 Lascombes was picked between September 23 and October 9 according to ripeness levels in parcels at 38 hl/ha. This vintage is aged in barrels with less heavy toasting (60% new), 80hl foudres and amphora. The wine is usually finished in the last two or three months in those foudres, though Axel Heinz said that might be omitted this year. It has an elegant and pure bouquet with bright black cherry and cassis fruit. There is remarkable underlying mineralité in this wine. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannins, quite crisp and linear like many other Margaux wines. Light on its feet and very fresh with impressive precision on the finish, the 2024 is a "nimble" Lascombes that you would never have seen in the 1990s or 2000s. This is a very commendable, classically-styled wine that will give pleasure after three or four years.

Score: 91 - 93 Neal Martin, Vinous.com Maturity: 2030-2050

A serious wine that will delight patient purists, but which also showcases the new levels of purity and precision that this estate has been attaining since completion of the new winery, the 2024 Léoville Barton is a blend of 92% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Merlot and 2% Cabernet Franc. Unwinding in the glass with notes of cassis, plums, pencil shavings and violets, it's medium to full-bodied, deep and impressively concentrated, with a taut but nicely integrated profile, concluding with a pure, penetrating finish.

Score: 92 - 94 William Kelley, Wine Advocate, RobertParker.com

The 2024 Léoville Barton was picked from September 24 to October 5 and contains just a little more Cabernet Sauvignon than previous vintages. Matured in 60% new oak, this has an open bouquet with black fruit, potpourri and light sous-bois scents—quintessentially Barton. The palate is medium-bodied, well balanced and sapid in style with slightly powdery tannins on the entry and a little sinew on the finish that should be abraded during barrel maturation. This is a finely crafted Léoville Barton that should age with grace.

Score: 91 - 93 Neal Martin, Vinous.com Maturity: 2030-2060

One of the wines of the vintage, and certainly one that's likely to number among the longest-lived, is the 2024 Léoville Las Cases, a blend of 84% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11% Cabernet Franc and 5% Merlot that attained 13.1% alcohol. Unwinding in the glass with a pure, intense bouquet of cassis, violets and pencil shavings, it's medium to full-bodied, with terrific mid-palate density and concentration but also a seamless integration of tannin and acidity that's especially rare this year, concluding with a long, penetrating finish. Jean-Hubert Delon observes that the 2024 shares "the aromas and flavors of the 1986," defined by Cabernet Sauvignon ripened at the end of the growing season, though of course the 2024, lacking the huge power and structure of that vintage, is much more amiable than the 1986.

Score: 93 - 95 William Kelley, Wine Advocate, RobertParker.com

The 2024 Léoville Las Cases was picked between September 30 and October 9 at 31 hl/ha (compare that to 11 hl/ha next door at Latour!). It is aged for 18 months in 75% new oak barrels with 6.3% pressed wine. It has a backward, almost surly bouquet with introverted black fruit, cedar, touches of cumin and light sea spray scents. Superb delineation. The palate is medium-bodied with less structure than the last two vintages, yet it upholds wonderful balance with lace-like tannins. With crisp black fruit and beautifully assimilated new oak, this fans out towards the finish. It is paradoxically a more conservative Las Cases in keeping with the limitations of the growing season, but I suspect it will gain weight and sustain with time in barrel.

Score: 93 - 95 Neal Martin, Vinous.com Maturity: 2031-2050

Offering up aromas of jammy berries and toasty oak, the 2024 Léoville Poyferré is a blend of 64% Cabernet Sauvignon, 27% Merlot, 8% Cabernet Franc and 1% Petit Verdot. Medium-bodied, dense and blocky, it's firm, tannic and chewy, with some green characteristics vying with its creamy patina of new wood. Harvest took place between 24 September and 10 October, and some lots saw some reverse osmosis.

Score: 89 - 91 William Kelley, Wine Advocate, RobertParker.com

The 2024 Léoville-Poyferré was picked from September 24 to October 10 at 26.42 hl/ha. There was some reverse osmosis on the Merlot and Cabernet Franc varieties. Quasi-Pauillac in style, it offers quite backward black fruit, hints of melted tar and graphite on the nose. The palate is medium-bodied and quite succulent with fleshy ripe tannins, tobacco-laced black fruit, brown spices and light undergrowth. With a fine supple landing on the finish in typical "LP" fashion, this constitutes a delicious, early-drinking Poyferré that will be more approachable than other vintages.

Score: 91 - 93 Neal Martin, Vinous.com Maturity: 2028-2050