En Primeur 2024

The 2024 Giscours has turned out very well indeed. Offering up incipiently complex aromas of dark berries and cherries mingled with orange zest, licorice, violets and burning embers, it's medium to full-bodied, with good density and richness, with a layered, rather muscular palate and a long, expansive finish. The 2024 is a blend of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 31% Merlot, 6% Cabernet Franc and 3% Petit Verdot. The estate retained cover crops to amplify the dry conditions in July and August, accelerating ripening, and once again picked by vine age within blocks, bringing in the younger-vine fruit earlier before it could rot. Merlot came in between 19 and 28 September, and the Cabernet Sauvignon was picked very late, between 1 and 11 October.

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

The 2024 Giscours was picked from September 19 to October 11 and matured in 50% new oak. It has a forward and generous bouquet with ripe red cherry, kirsch and cassis scents, with a touch of pencil shavings in the background. The palate is medium-bodied with firm and grainy tannins that frame mainly black fruit. Overall, this is a Giscours cut in a classical style, although the finish needs to cohere and muster more precision during its barrel maturation. An enjoyable Giscours for sure, even if it does not reach the heights of recent vintages. This was tasted three times.

Score: 91 - 93 Neal Martin, Vinous.com Maturity: 2030-2045

Aromas of blackberries, cassis and toasty oak introduce the 2024 Gloria, a medium-bodied, lively wine built around youthfully chalky tannins.

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

The 2024 Gloria has a light nose with blackberry, leather and loamy aromas that require a bit of coaxing from the glass. The palate is medium-bodied with rigid tannins, moderate depth, gentle grip and a slightly blocky finish. It's not close to the peaks that Gloria can achieve (and there have been several in recent years), but this is a swarthy Saint-Julien that should mellow with bottle age.

Score: 90 - 92 Neal Martin, Vinous.com Maturity: 2030-2050

A blend of 78% Cabernet Sauvignon and 22% Merlot, maturing in 70% new barriques, the 2024 Grand-Puy-Lacoste offers up notes of blackcurrants, pencil shavings, iris and oak, followed by a medium-bodied, pretty palate built around a delicate core of fruit and lively acids, its powdery structuring tannins asserting themselves with gentle grip on the finish.

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

The 2024 Grand-Puy-Lacoste has a light bouquet for this estate, primarily revealing fresh black fruit laced with tobacco and light smoky scents. It is simple but exhibits impressive delineation. You get the feeling that the aromatics are holding something back. The palate is medium-bodied and classic Pauillac in style with all that graphite-tinged black fruit and edgy tannins. This is not a complex Grand-Puy-Lacoste per se, but I admire its balance, charm and gentle grip on the finish. This is classy in an unpretentious way.

Score: 91 - 93 Neal Martin, Vinous.com Maturity: 2032-2048

The 2024 Gruaud Larose shows excellent potential, bursting with notes of cassis, pencil shavings, iris and violets. Medium to full-bodied, suave and seamless, it's ample and pure, with a precise, refined pro-life and good persistence on the finish. A blend of 81% Cabernet Sauvignon, 17% Merlot and 2% Cabernet Franc, it is the fruit of a growing season defined by fully 30 organic phytosanitary treatments and a harvest that concluded on October 8. It checks in at 12.4% alcohol and pH 3.77 (for Gruaud, a rather low number).

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

The 2024 Gruaud Larose, picked between September 27 and October 8, matured in 95% new oak. This has an impressive bouquet for the vintage with pure blackberry, bilberry, cedar and light pressed flower scents. This leans a little toward Margaux in style. The palate is medium-bodied, fresh and quite saline, with sappy black fruit laced with notes of black olive tapenade. Not a persistent Gruaud Larose insofar as there is no peacock's tail on the finish, yet it has a statesman-like classicism that you could not find 10 or 15 years ago.

Score: 91 - 93 Neal Martin, Vinous.com Maturity: 2030-2055

Dark burnt orange gold, spiralling white flower aromatics, this is great quality, thoroughly enjoyable, subtle spiced cumin and tumeric, sweetly succulent apricot and nectarine juice without being heavy. 12.6 hl/ha yield, Sandrine Garbay estate director.

Score: 94 Jane Anson, Inside Bordeaux Maturity: 2026-2038