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Already a beautiful wine, this is showing fine, sweet fruits along with a solid structure. The palate is juicy and fruity with new wood flavors showing through. The aftertaste is full of the fresh aspect of the vintage.Wine Enthusiast | 94 WEThe 2012 Lagrange was a late-picked vintage from 8 to 21 October and it has improved since I last tasted it. It has a deep and broody bouquet with cranberry, raspberry and wild strawberry aromas that are nicely integrated with the oak. The palate is very well balanced with supple tannins, spicier than the 2011 with ample fruit concentration on the fleshy, pliant finish. This has panache and class, an underrated Lagrange that should not be missed. Tasted at the Lagrange vertical at the estate.Vinous Media | 92 VMFirm and balanced with blueberries, blackberries and hints of citrus and minerals. Medium body, fine tannins and a fresh finish. Best after 2017.James Suckling | 92 JS(Château Lagrange) The 2012 Château Lagrange was made from the lowest yields in the last twenty years at the estate (38.75 hectoliters per hectare), and is two-thirds cabernet sauvignon this year. The remainder of the blend is thirty percent merlot and three percent petit verdot. The harvest was quite late here in 2012, with the merlot brought in between October 8th and 15th and the cabernet sauvignon and petit verdot October 15th to the 21st. The wine is quite classically ripe at 13.2 percent alcohol and offers up a deep and very pure bouquet of cassis, black cherries, dark chocolate, cigar smoke, dark soil tones, a stylish base of new oak and a topnote of violets. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and tightly-knit, with a fine core of fruit, lovely focus and balance and a long, firm and ripely tannic finish. The acids are on the low side here, but this wine avoids the slightly flat side of the vintage that plagues other 2012s from the Médoc, and will age beautifully. (Drink between 2020 - 2040)John Gilman | 91 JGFine expression of Cabernet fruit, a little discreet in the Lagrange style, with elegance and depth for the future.Decanter | 90 DEC

Firm tannins guard the ripe blackberry flavors on this rich wine. Spice and sweet tannins add to the intensity. Wine Enthusiast | 92 WEThe 2012 La Pointe has fresh, wild berry, cranberry, incense and wild heather aromas that unfurl in the glass, a touch of black truffle emerging with time. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannin. There is still some new oak to be absorbed, but it is well balanced with good acidity, notwithstanding what you might describe as a "solid" structure towards the finish. It is a very fine Pomerol, though my advice is to wait 4-5 years to get the most from Eric Monnoret’s fast-improving Pomerol. Tasted March 2016.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 91 RPRipe and fleshy, with friendly boysenberry, plum and anise notes that glide through the licorice-accented finish. Turns rather suave and graceful in the end, presenting a lingering mineral edge. Drink now through 20182020. 6,665 cases made.Wine Spectator | 90 WSPlum and blackberry character with a medium body, firm and silky tannins and a fresh finish. Drink now or hold. Stylish for the vintage.James Suckling | 90 JS

Drinking beautifully, the deep ruby/purple-hued 2012 Château Beychevelle just about jumps out of the glass with lots of ripe black cherry and currant styled fruits as well as tobacco, damp earth, truffle, and cedarwood aromas and flavors. Rich, medium to full-bodied, beautifully textured, and balanced, with both terrific freshness and ripe tannins, it’s one gem of a wine from the Médoc that readers will love to drink over the coming 15-20 years or so.Jeb Dunnuck | 94 JDThis is a smooth, rich wine that’s intensely concentrated and packed with great black-currant fruits. The wine has weight and a sense of structure to support the great fruitiness.Wine Enthusiast | 94 WEThe grand vin, the 2012 Beychevelle, is one of the stars of St.-Julien. Opaque purple, with beautiful crème de cassis notes, the wine has floral underpinnings, sweet tannin and a nice layered, multi-dimensional mouthfeel. This is elegant and powerful, rich and intense, but light on its feet. This is a great Beychevelle and certainly seems to exceed the vintage’s character and expectations. Give it 4-6 years of bottle age and drink it over the following 25-30 years.Robert Parker | 92+ RPThis shows an outstanding density of fruit with currant, blueberry and raspberry character. Full-bodied, compressed and tight. Fine tannins. Better in 2017.James Suckling | 92 JS(Château Beychevelle) Philippe Blanc noted that the harvest for the merlot at Beychevelle was prolonged this year, taking place over nine days from September 27th (normally, it takes four days to bring in the merlot here), as the uneven ripening of this variety in 2012 (due primarily to hydric stress) required several more passes through the vineyards. The cabernet sauvignon was much more homogenous in its ripeness and was gathered over a normal cycle from October 12th to the 18th, and the resulting Beychevelle, which came in at 13.3 percent alcohol, is a very classic and promising example of the vintage. The superb bouquet offers up a lovely and very pure mélange of cassis, cark berries, Cuban cigars, a touch of violet, dark chocolate, soil and a very discreet base of new wood. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, pure and rock solid at the core, with ripe, chewy tannins, fine focus and balance and a very long, youthful and classy finish. Texturally, this is really a stunning success in 2012! A classic Beychevelle in the making and one of the top wines on the Left Bank this year. (Drink between 2027-2060)John Gilman | 92+ JG(47% cabernet sauvignon, 44% merlot, 5% petit verdot and 4% cabernet franc; 67% selection for the grand vin; 42 h/h): Fully saturated deep purple-red. Aromas of black cherry, flowers and aromatic spices. Then surprisingly big and almost chunky for Beychevelle, with rich blackberry and black cherry flavors dominating. This crowd-pleaser finishes smooth, ripely tannic and long.Vinous Media | 88-91 VMVery solid, with a bramble-lined core of blackberry, blueberry and raspberry fruit, backed by anise and singed wood spice notes. A bolt of graphite pins the finish down. Best from 2016 through 2024. 20,416 cases made.Wine Spectator | 90 WS2012 was a relatively cool vintage but this remains lovely and open on the nose. There’s a good density to the black fruit, mixed through with charcoal and cedar notes. Still tight on the finish but a good quality wine, with appealingly supple tannins through the mid-palate and it should be ready to drink before both the 2011 and the 2010 vintages. The gravel soils of Château Beychevelle, alongside the thermal effect of the river, often give it one week difference of ripening compared to neighbouring estates further to the west of the appellation, and this really helped in 2012. This was the first year with technical director Romain Ducolomb, who came from Château Clinet, although he is originally from Burgundy and has worked both in Burgundy and Napa along the way. 4% Cabernet Franc makes up the blend. Drinking Window 2019 - 2036.Decanter | 90 DEC

(Château La Conseillante, Pomerol, Bordeaux, France, Red) This has always been one of my favourite vintages of La Conseillante. Here a little Cabernet Franc (11%) goes a long way. Ethereal and utterly beautiful on the nose. Soft, delicate, elegant and subtle. Intensely floral, with violets and little hedgerow spring flowers, freshly cut. Has an exquisite balance and harmony, even if it might be said to lack some of the density of ostensibly greater vintages. I can live happily with that; though I’d drink this sooner. Very attractive and the very essence of plateau Pomerol for me. Soft and seductive, with those little truffle notes, blueberries and raspberries; tender and lithe, nicely compact and juicy on the finish. (Drink between 2022-2040)Decanter | 96 DECAn absolutely amazing wine from the Nicolas family, this is from another estate in Pomerol that is pushing the envelope to higher and higher quality. The final blend has moved to smaller amounts of Cabernet Franc, now approximately 20%, with the balance 80% Merlot. Through crop-thinning, yields have been reduced to an average of 35 hectoliters per hectare. Inky bluish/purple color and stunning sweet tannins embrace a full-bodied opulent Pomerol with beautiful, floral-infused black raspberry, blueberry and cassis fruit. Full-bodied, yet elegant, this is a brilliant marriage between finesse and power. Stunningly pure, this wine can be drunk young or age magnificently for 20 or more years.Robert Parker | 96 RPAnother classic wine from this fabulous estate is the 2012 La Conseillante, which I believe was the first wine made in their newly constructed winery. A blend of roughly 89% Merlot and 11% Cabernet Franc brought up in 70% new barrels, it offers an awesome bouquet of blueberry and smoky black cherry fruit intermixed with loads of Asian spices, melted asphalt, truffle, and licorice. This full-bodied, opulent, incredibly sexy Pomerol stays light and elegant, with silky tannin and sensational purity of fruit. Anyone who owns bottles should count themselves lucky, and those who don’t should buy some as soon as possible. It can be drunk today or cellared for two decades.Jeb Dunnuck | 96 JD(Château La Conseillante) The new chais at Château La Conseillante has now been completed and it is a beautiful new addition to this property. Up above the chais are a pair of large, glass-enclosed tasting rooms that offer a beautiful view of surrounding Pomerol and the graves section of St. Émilion (with Cheval Blanc right across the stretch of vineyards that unfold below your feet). The new chais has clearly not gone to waste, as the team at La Conseillante has fashioned a brilliant utterly classic example of the 2012 vintage, offering up a pure and complex nose of black raspberries, black cherries, Cuban cigars, gravel, fresh herb tones, violets and a stylish base of spicy oak. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied and shows off excellent mid-palate depth, with excellent focus and balance, very fine-grained tannins and outstanding grip and nascent complexity on the very long, velvety finish. This wine reminds me quite a bit of the young 1985 La Conseillante- which is a vintage here that I adore and prefer to the more highly-praised 1982, 1989 and 1990 vintages at this great estate. A stunning wine in the making and clearly one of the greatest wines of the 2012 vintage. (Drink between 2023-2065).John Gilman | 94+ JGAmazing aromas of dried flowers, blueberries and minerals follow through to a full body, fine and polished tannins and a long finish. All in finesse and harmony. Little tight now. Better in 2018.James Suckling | 94 JSThe 2012 La Conseillante takes some time to settle in the glass, gaining harmony after 10 minutes with scents of red cherry, sandalwood, freshly rolled tobacco and clove. This comes across as showier, more extravagant than other 2012 Pomerols. The palate is medium-bodied with silky smooth tannins, harmonious and poised, spicy and perhaps with a little more edge towards the finish. There is a sense of confidence about this La Conseillante. Tasted twice at Bordeaux Index’s Ten Year-On tasting and blind at the Southwold Ten-Year On tasting.Vinous Media | 93+ VMOn the robust side of Pomerol for now, with ganache and tar notes underscoring the core of dark plum, linzer torte, blackberry and black currant fruit. The elements meld nicely through fleshy, cocoa-accented finish, where a lingering iron accent emerges alongside ample yet silky tannins. Shows impressive depth, suggesting that elegance will come from cellaring. Best from 2017 through 2027.Wine Spectator | 93 WS

This is very polished and refined with blackcurrant, raspberry and citrus-peel undertones. Full body, extremely fine texture and a long, long finish.James Suckling | 92 JSPart of the empire of the Chateau Mouton Rothschild, this estate was once known as Mouton Baronne Philippe. This impressive, deep, opaque ruby/purple wine, with loads of charcoal, crème de cassis and a flowery-ness, this is rich, medium to full-bodied, beautifully textured, quite pure, and avoids any of the astringency or hollowness that some Médocs possess in this vintage. The wine is complete and finishes authoritatively. The tannins are there, but ripe, integrated and velvety. This is a very impressive d’Armailhac to drink over the next 20-25 years.Robert Parker | 91 RPFragrant, scented and full of charm, but lighter than its richer stablemate Château Clerc Milon, tasted at the same time. This was a good vintage from the Mouton Rothschild stable, and the team there read it well. Remains good value.Decanter | 91 DECFruity and rich, this wine is developing fast. It is full of black currant fruits, with an impressive background of solid, structured tannins. The wine is linear, fresh, showing how well this property is developing its quality. It’s a wine for medium-term aging, so drink from 2018.Wine Enthusiast | 91 WE

Once again proprietor Jean Gautreau has hit pay dirt with a beautiful blend of 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot and 5% Cabernet Franc. Wonderfully sweet, ripe tannins seem to be a rule of thumb from this great terroir just to the north of St.-Estèphe’s Château Montrose. A beautiful deep ruby/purple color, decent acidity, medium to full-bodied mouthfeel and stunning fruit put this wine right in the midst of the best classified crus from the Médoc, yet it has never been classified. Go figure. Softer than I would have suspected (and I’ve been following and buying this wine since the mid-1970s), this wine will still age beautifully for 10-15+ years.Robert Parker | 90 RPDense colour, striklingly pure Cabernet cassis nose, richness of fruit and firmness of ripe tannins, a wine of real class and as usual one of the very best Haut-Médoc. Drinking Window 2017 - 2025.Decanter | 90 DECIntense aromas of red and black cherries with light floral notes. Full body, silky tannins, lovely acidity and long, fruity finish. Polished tannins. Needs to open. Better in 2018.James Suckling | 90 JS

A gorgeous wine from proprietor Denis Durantou, this blend of 85% Merlot and 15% Cabernet Franc is an inky purple color, with gorgeous purity of black raspberries, blackcurrants and blackberry with a hint of truffle and spring flowers. Its is full-bodied, opulent and a tour de force in this vintage. Great presence on the palate, fabulous purity and a long finish make for a magnificent bottle of wine to drink over the next 20-some years.Robert Parker | 96 RPThe 2012 L'Eglise Clinet is a real head-turner. Explosive and rich in the glass, the 2012 boasts superb depth throughout. Sweet floral and spiced notes develop first, followed by intense red and blue-fleshed fruit. Violets, mint, sage and sweet spices add nuance as the 2012 opens up, but it is really the wine's vertical structure that stands out above all else. I very much like the pure energy that is so central to the wine's personality. This is a superb showing, and one of the clear highlights of the year. Readers should cellar the 2012 for at least a few years.Antonio Galloni | 95 AGThis delivers a gorgeously pure and racy core of raspberry, boysenberry and blackberry fruit, melded perfectly with singed black tea leaf, dried star anise and roasted apple wood notes. Velvety and alluring overall, but there's a bright minerality buried on the finish. Best from 2016 through 2027. 1,417 cases made.Wine Spectator | 94 WSRich, ripe and dense. Expressive red berry nose with toasted oak evident. Sweet, plush mid-palate (heightened by 14.5% alcohol although that doesn't show). Long, firm finish. A touch dry on the end. Drinking Window 2020 - 2032.Decanter | 91 DEC

This is the essence of Le Pin with incredible silk texture and beautiful fruit. A berry, sweet-tobacco, chocolate and dusty undertone. It reminds me of many wonderful and underrated Le Pins of the 1980s like 1985 or 1986. What a wine. Better in 2018. But who can wait? Cystal clear. It’s like the 2001 that was always better than 2000.James Suckling | 97 JSIntense raspberry confiture notes drive along, with ample dark spice, anise and singed wood accents. Shows lots of flesh, especially for the vintage. A light twinge of savory at the very end gives this nice lift. This has settled in nicely and is one of the stars of this Right Bank–favored vintage.—Non-blind Le Pin vertical (December 2015). Drink now through 2030. 502 cases made.Wine Spectator | 96 WSTasted blind at the Southwold 2012 tasting, 2012 Le Pin put in a very strong performance. It has a strict, graphite-infused bouquet that is strangely Pauillac-like (not a trait I have noticed on other vintages; I wonder whether it is just a passing phase?). This is earthier than its peers, with hints of leather in the background and sous-bois aromas becoming more and more accentuated by time. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannin, elegant and understated in style with a fine line of acidity, harmonious and thankfully not screaming and shouting towards the stylish finish. This is an outstanding wine from Jacques Thienpont that might well be unfairly over-shadowed by the 2009 and 2010. Tasted January 2016.Robert Parker Neal Martin | 95 RP-NMA compelling, totally arresting wine, the 2012 Le Pin boasts superb texture, unctuousness and pure voluptuous beauty. The 2012 is effortless in the way it opens up in the glass, with generous sweet red cherry, plum, iron, smoke and licorice. Perhaps not as rich as some previous vintages, the 2012 is nevertheless racy and quite expressive, even at this early stage.Vinous Media | 95 VMA really elegant Le Pin. Fine, fresh, floral nose. Silky texture and tannins. Discreet but has length, depth and plenty of energy. Drinking Window 2020 - 2032.Decanter | 94 DEC(Château Le Pin) Monsieur Thienpont had his two teenage sons assisting in hosting the tasting this year, as both boys were home from school for the Easter holidays, with the older son particularly vivacious and funny and livening up the banter around the table. The 2012 Château Le Pin was harvested between October 1st and October 3rd, and comes in at a very civilized 13.5 percent alcohol this year. The bouquet is deep and youthful, offering up a classy blend of black cherries, blackberries, cigar smoke, a touch of tobacco leaf, lovely soil tones and nutty, luxuriant new wood. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, pure and refined, with a fine core, ripe tannins, very good acidity and lovely length and grip on the focused and youthful finish. This will be a fine, fine vintage of Le Pin. (Drink between 2022-2050).John Gilman | 93 JG

Firmly tannic in character, this wine is dry and extracted. There’s potential for this powerful, impressive wine to bear the wine’s very dry character with the weight of its fruit.Wine Enthusiast | 95 WEDense ruby/purple, with cassis licorice and forest floors notes in the aromatics, Léoville-Barton’s 2012 is a relatively big, rich, masculine style of wine. This full-bodied wine needs 5-8 years of cellaring and should evolve easily for 25-30 years.Robert Parker | 92 RPDense black-red, firm, quite spicy Cabernet Sauvignon, both ripeness and firmness is there, elegance over power and a good future. Drinking Window 2017 - 2035.Decanter | 92 DECFloral and fruity red with hints of vanilla. Medium to full body, fine tannins and a crisp finish. Loosely knit. This needs three or four years to come together. Better after 2018.James Suckling | 91 JSThe 2012 Leoville-Barton is laced with dark red and blue-fleshed stone fruits, spices, sweet spice, mint and licorice. This is a decidedly understated, forward Leoville-Barton that will drink well with minimal cellaring. The classic Leoville-Barton signatures aren’t fully developed. Perhaps I caught the 2012 in an awkward stage, but today the wine is quite introspective and gives the impression of not being fully formed.Antonio Galloni | 91+ AG