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Wonderful aromas of fresh flowers, blackberries and cherries. Licorice and lilacs, too. Full-bodied, yet so tight and refined, translucent and weightless. Incredible purity and excellence. This is the heart and soul of the property in a glass. Really pinpointed at the end. Enchanting and thought-provoking. Needs time to open and soften. Try after 2028.James Suckling | 99 JSThe flagship 2019 Château Belair-Monange checks in as 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc from 25-year-old vines and raised in 50% new French oak. It’s a magical wine in the vintage and offers more depth and richness than just about every other Saint-Emilion out there, all while holding onto a gorgeous sense of finesse and elegance, which would almost have me guessing Pomerol in a blind tasting. Deep red and black fruits, truffly earth, tobacco, and spring flower notes all emerge on the nose, and this puppy is full-bodied, has a layered, seamless mouthfeel, gorgeous tannins, and one heck of a great finish. It’s stunning, and while it offers incredible pleasure today given its purity and flawless balance, it deserves 7-8 years of bottle age and will evolve for 30 years or more.Jeb Dunnuck | 98 JDThe 2019 Bélair-Monange shows wonderful delineation and focus on the nose, which presents a cornucopia of red fruit, crushed stone, wilted rose petal and light black truffle aromas. It seems to gain complexity with aeration. The palate is medium-bodied with sappy red berry fruit, fine delineation and a velvety texture. This builds toward a lavish finish, with dark chocolate and cocoa notes lingering on the aftertaste. It will need several years in bottle but should repay those with the wherewithal to cellar.Vinous Media | 97 VMAusterity is high as the limestone shines through, with controlled black and blue berry fruits rippling through the palate. There are extremely delicate redcurrant and violet floral edges that come through and cling on, just opening up after a good five minutes in the glass. A little less generous than the 2018, as is often the case in the 2019 vintage, but one with concentration and precision, and that will give pleasure for decades. Takes time to open and will take time to fully express its potential in the bottle. 50% new oak. Drinking Window 2027 - 2044.Decanter | 97 DECPerfectly situated on the Saint-Émilion slope, this estate’s wine is performing with great panache. This vintage shows richness while also having plenty of freshness and structured tannins. It has immense potential for aging.Wine Enthusiast | 97 WELike Trotanoy, though of course not to the same extent, the 2019 Belair Monange is another of the richer, more powerful wines in the Mouiex portfolio this year. Offering up aromas of sweet cherries, wild berries, vanilla pod, plum preserve, warm spices and cedary new oak, it’s full-bodied, broad and muscular, with a deep and layered core of ripe, sun-kissed fruit that’s framed by lively acids and ripe, powdery tannins.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 95 RPThis captures the richness of the vintage wonderfully, with long, caressing waves of cassis, plum reduction and boysenberry compote flavors gliding through. Laced with subtle red tea, floral and mineral hints through the lengthy finish, this is really well done and augmented by a level of purity most don’t have in this vintage. Merlot and Cabernet Franc. Best from 2025 through 2040. 3,200 cases made, 550 cases imported. Wine Spectator | 95 WS

The aromas to this are really amazing, with a potpourri of spices and dried flowers, as well as redcurrants, sweet plums and even some peaches. Full-bodied with layers of ripe fruit and ultra-fine tannins that spread across the palate in an encompassing yet always elegant and pure way. It’s succulent and unadulterated. Like crushed, perfectly ripened grapes. The length is rather endless. The tannins build. Fabulous young red. 35% in amphora and the rest in 50% new oak and 15% one-year oak. 65% cabernet sauvignon and 30% merlot, the rest cabernet franc and petit verdot. From biodynamically grown grapes. Try after 2028, but an absolute joy to taste now.James Suckling | 99 JSSuch gorgeous aromatics of freshly picked violets, cherries and bramble fruits - pretty and quite delicate. The texture is smooth and succulent, mouth coating but full of soft tannins which have the most delicious black cherry, blackcurrant flesh and liquorice tinge to them - so satisfying. Extremely well balanced and well integrated, this has restrained power, it’s not rich or particularly round but straight, direct and layered rather than wide. Really long finish with great freshness and touches of cool blueberries. This is just such a great wine, everything you want and you know there’s power there promising a long life. Great winemaking on show. 35% aged in concrete, 50% new oak, 15% in barrels of one year, for 16-18 months. This year there’s a new label, the drawing of the house has remained but the font is more elegant and modern. A blend of 57% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc and 5% Petit Verdot. (Drink between 2027-2047)Decanter | 98 DEC97–99. Barrel Sample. This is a luscious, sumptuous wine, with layers of black fruits and wonderfully cushioned tannins. The structure of the wine is initially masked by the great fruits, but then finds balance from a dry edge of spice, smokiness and lifted acidity. It’s another great vintage from this biodynamic estate. Wine Enthusiast | 98 WEThe 2019 Pontet-Canet was so effusive and generous en primeur. Today, though, it is quite reticent. That won’t be an issue for those who can be patient, but patience indeed will be the key here. Dark red fleshed fruit, tobacco, cedar, spice, kirsch, mint and blood orange gradually open with a bit of coaxing. Imposing tannins wrap it all together. The 2019 is a drop-dead gorgeous beauty, but it needs time.Antonio Galloni | 96 AGVery lush out of the gate, with waves of gently mulled plum, blackberry and black currant fruit that roll through slowly, lined with alder, sweet tobacco, worn cedar and singed savory notes. Delivers a late tug of iron that’s well-buried on a finish marked by lingering perfume, resulting in an end impression of a rich wine that’s very light on its feet. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. Best from 2023 through 2036.Wine Spectator | 94 WSThe 2019 Pontet-Canet offers up an expressive bouquet of plummy fruit, kirsch, dried herbs and peonies. On the palate, it’s full-bodied, ample and seamless, with melting tannins, succulent acids, and a long, liqueured finish. Tasted twice, it’s a wine I find somewhat perplexing: in a blind tasting, I might be more inclined to place it in Gigondas than Pauillac. I’m far from dogmatic when it comes to what the French call "typicité," and stylistic diversity surely enriches every appellation; but by the same token, I’m not convinced that this is the most compelling aesthetic that a Cabernet-based blend from this part of Bordeaux can realize. Checking in at 13.7% alcohol, some 35% of the production was matured in amphorae, which no doubt contributes to the wine’s idiosyncratic identity.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 93 RPThe 2019 Château Pontet Canet checks in as a blend of 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc, and 2% Petit Verdot that was brought up in a mix of barrels and concrete tanks. It shows the new style of the estate with a more savory, exotic, medium to full-bodied style that’s a dramatically different beast than the benchmark 2009 and 2010 vintages, which to my mind, are the greatest vintages from this estate to date. The 2019 has a ruby/plum color as well as a perfumed nose of redcurrant and mulberry fruits as well as notes of brambly herbs, woodsmoke, peony, leather, and cedar pencil. It’s aromatic and complex, although certainly not classic Pauillac, and on the palate, it’s medium to full-bodied, with firm, savory, yet quality tannins, good balance, and outstanding length. It warrants 7-8 years of bottle age and will evolve for 30+ years. While the style of the estate has been gradually shifting with the winemaking moving to hand destemming and aging in concrete and amphora, this is the first time where the winemaking seems to dominate the wine, and the quality is unquestionably not at the same level.Jeb Dunnuck | 92 JD

Based on a final blend of 60% Merlot and 40% Cabernet Franc, the 2019 Château Angélus is knockout stuff, and while I’m not sure it matches the perfect 2018, it’s not far off. Gorgeous notes of redcurrants, blueberries, sandalwood, dried flowers, vanilla, and forest floor are just some of its nuances, and it hits the palate with medium to full body, a perfectly balanced, seamless mouthfeel, beautifully ripe tannins, and a great, great finish. It doesn’t have the sheer weight or richness of, say, the 1998, 2000, 2005, or even the 2009, but it doesn’t lack for intensity or power, and it’s just a beautiful example of modern-day Saint-Emilion. It’s already approachable (this was best on day two) yet will keep for another 30+ years.Jeb Dunnuck | 98 JD(Château Angélus, Merlot, St-Émilion, Bordeaux, France, Red) Beautifully expressive nose, really so welcoming with hints of sweet red cherries, raspberries, milk chocolate and touches of perfume too - soft but really defined. On the palate there is such charming grip from the tannins and flavour that just takes hold straight away but not in an overly dominating way. It’s smooth but precise, driven from start to finish. Softly chewy tannins coat the tongue with black fruit and some creaminess alongside excellent acidity that gives a mouthwateringly fresh and cooling aspect underneath the ripe red and black fruit flavours. This has real life and energy, bright with clear complexity and layers of fruit, oak and terroir that comes across as a spicy but also wet stone, mineral undertone. Seriously good. You almost want to drink this now and just capture all the elements going on but they’ll continue to soften and integrate over time and also let the beautiful Cabernet Franc elements integrate and come more into play over time. A success in 2019. (Drink between 2028-2050)Decanter | 98 DECRedcurrants, sweet tobacco and flowers with some sandalwood. Very perfumed and floral. So pure. Full-bodied, yet so refined and layered, with a soft, compact palate and a crushed-velvet mouth-feel. Poised fruit at the end, together with fresh, rare wood and a light chocolate undertone to the aftertaste. This is open, yet there’s so much in reserve. 60% merlot and 40% cabernet franc. Leave it in the cellar for at least eight years. Try after 2029.James Suckling | 98 JSThe 2019 Angélus is every bit as impressive as it was from barrel. Silky, medium in body and wonderfully nuanced, the 2019 is pure class. All the elements come together so beautifully as the 2019 builds with a bit of air. Forty percent of the Franc was aged in cask, an approach that works so well here in coaxing all of the energy of Franc to complement the Merlot.Antonio Galloni | 97 AGThe 2019 Angélus bursts from the glass with a rich, dramatic nose of cherries, licorice, sweet spices and dark chocolate. Full-bodied, layered and vibrant, its broad and velvety attack segues into a layered, concentrated mid-palate that’s underpinned by tangy acids and fine, powdery tannins, concluding with a long, penetrating finish. It’s a blend of 60% Merlot and 40% Cabernet Franc. Its seamless, pure profile reflects the subtle shift chez Angélus away from the rich, toasty style of the 1990s and 2000s toward greater elegance and precision.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 96 RP

Cheval des Andes continues its steady ascent towards the summit of the very best and most sought-after New World reds. I tasted this wine over the space of a day and was very close to giving it 100 points. Made from an equal blend of Malbec and Cabernet Sauvignon, it combines fruit from Las Compuertas and Paraje Altamira to brilliant effect. Aged in 50% new barrels and foudres,it’s effortlessly complex and detailed, with refined tannins,graphite and cut grass aromas, cassis and bramble flavours and remarkable palate length. Drink till 2040.Tim Atkin | 99 TAThe 2019 Cheval des Andes had a more reductive vinification and élevage, making the wine a bit shy and in need of time to open up, as one of their objectives was to make it more age-worthy. Another objective is to get to a 50/50 blend of Malbec and Cabernet Sauvignon, which they achieved in this vintage for the first time, going back to the initial character of the wine that was the idea of Argentinean winemaker Roberto de la Mota; so, they are closing the circle and going back to the initial idea, with more implication from the Cheval Blanc team. This is the first vintage fully under the charge of the new French winemaker, Gerald Gabillet, who fermented by plot, isolating some specific parts of the vineyard, like the borders where you tend to get higher yields because of the irrigation. It matured in 225- and 400-liter oak barrels and in oak vats. They used more barrels and vats from Stockinger, which they like and rotate; the wine spends an average of 13 to 14 months in oak, but some lots get 11 months and others get 16. 2019 was a mild vintage, cooler than 2017 and warmer than 2018, with rain at the right time, which helped to avoid hydric stress, and without extremes (which they had in 2020 with three weeks of extreme heat). The wine is young and tender and a bit oaky, which Gerald attributed to the reductiveness; it’s ripe without excess, with around 14.2% alcohol, mellow acidity and velvety tannins. There’s more Cabernet here, so the aromatic expression can be something between 2017 and 2018, but Cabernet marks the palate a lot and makes the wine more age-worthy, as it provides the structure and length that the Malbec lacks. So, the wine might be less accessible when young and should develop slowly in bottle. It’s tasty and supple and has the ingredients and the balance for what they are aiming for. In the following vintages, they follow this path, and Gabillet feels that having more precision allows the wines to reflect the differences between vintages better. They keep producing around 100,000 bottles. It was bottled in late January 2021. The way they want to describe the wine is the Argentinean expression of Cheval Blanc. And I can only agree.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 98 RPA refined but spicy Cheval, showing charcoal, blueberries, wild herbs, lavender and hints of bacon and cedar. Medium to full body with extremely fine tannins that get dialed into the fruit with violet, spices and sweet blue fruit at the end. Long and subtle. Drink or hold.James Suckling | 97 JSThe 2019 Cheval des Andes is a 50/50 blend of Malbec and Cabernet Sauvignon from Las Compuertas and Paraje Altamira, Mendoza. The 2019 was 40% aged in 225-liter barrels, 40% in 500-liter barrels and 20% in foudres. It’s red with violet flecks in the glass. It has a fresh nose of plum and blackcurrant accompanied by hints of white pepper, mint and violets over a bed of cedar and sandalwood. On the palate, the feel is finely grained with a leaner, more agile flow than in previous years, while the freshness brings plenty of energy before the lengthy finish of fruit and country herb aromas.Vinous Media | 97 VMSmooth and so seductive, I love the texture here, supple but silky. Tannis give structure and support and the focus is on perfumed red and black fruits with a richness and concentration yet liveliness from sharp acidity. It doesn’t feel at all heavy but sintilates with fragrance and freshness. Easy to drink, lovely detail on show - blackcurrants, red cherries, violets with vanilla and liquorice hints. Very smooth and charming while still being a full wine. This has extreme delectability. Great winemaking on show. Drinking Window: 2025 - 2045Decanter | 96 DEC

Like a bouquet of fresh flowers on the nose, as well as blackberries, raspberries and blackcurrants. Sandalwood as well. Full-bodied with incredibly polished tannins that have the texture of the finest velvet. The palate is very fine, oriented with fabulously pure fruit and minerally and stone undertones at the finish. It’s so classical in nature. Essence of Ausone. 60% cabernet franc and 40% merlot. From organically grown grapes. Best after 2027.James Suckling | 100 JSThe 2019 Ausone was picked September 20-27 for the Merlot and October 3, 5 and 7 for the Cabernet Franc, then matured for 20 months in new French oak with light toasting. This is very refined and focused on the nose, less opulent compared to recent vintages, and very sophisticated, with hints of Montecristo cigar interwoven through the red fruit. The palate is medium-bodied with very fine but quite firm tannins that frame the lightly spiced black fruit. Touches of pencil lead and white pepper appear toward the prolonged finish. This very composed Ausone might actually drink earlier than other vintages but unequivocally has the substance to age with grace in bottle. There is an abiding sense of completeness here.Vinous Media | 99 VMUnwinding in the glass with deep aromas of wild berries, vine smoke, orange rind, exotic spices and violets, framed by a deft application of classy new oak, the 2019 Ausone is full-bodied, rich and concentrated, with beautiful purity of fruit, lively acids and ripe but abundant structuring tannins. Deep, layered and vibrant, it’s full of potential and will likely emerge as one of the most long-lived 2019s. This is another magical wine from what many consider to be Saint-Émilion’s greatest terroir, and it will demand and richly reward patience.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 98+ RPThe en primeur sample of the 2019 vintage, as I did not taste in the spring. Full of vivacity and austerity, dominated by the Cabernet Franc, showing roundness and depth to the black fruits as they open, with clear bilberry, cassis and blueberry, a ton of gentle charred smoke notes and graphite. Strong opulence and huge tannins. A wine that is going to age for decades.Drinking Window 2029 - 2050Decanter | 97 DEC

The 2019 Hosanna is a Pomerol that demands, and deserves, attention. It sprints out of the blocks with intense blackberry, raspberry, incense and blood orange scents, lavish and luxuriant while retaining superb delineation. The palate is medium-bodied, multilayered and mouth-filling, delivering saturated tannins and pure black fruit; just a very faint suggestion of fresh prune and fig appears toward the finish. This Hosanna takes it to the brink of overripeness. A Pomerol blessed with what you might call "optimal hedonism."Vinous Media | 97 VMAnother beautiful Pomerol, the 2019 Château Hosanna comes from a small 11-acre vineyard composed of a mix of gravel and clay soils. Its deep ruby/plum color is followed by a terrific perfume of spiced red and black cherries, blueberries, leafy tobacco, damp earth, and chocolate. It gains richness and depth with time in the glass and is medium to full-bodied, has a plush, seamless texture, gorgeous tannins, and no hard edges. It epitomizes the elegance paired with opulence that only Pomerol seems capable of producing. This beauty is already impossible to resist (it needs a decant) yet will evolve for 30 years or more.Jeb Dunnuck | 97 DJ12 Jan, 2022 – Blackberry and blueberry aromas, together with green olives, stems and peaches. Full-bodied and very tailored, with a firm, linear finish. Gorgeous already. Wonderful length, depth and finish. Mushroom at the end. Really classic. Try after 2027.James Suckling | 97 JSBeautiful aromatics on the nose, richly scented, bright blackcurrant fruits and floral touches - so expressive. Round and voluptuous in the mouth, flavours and texture coat the tongue and cheeks but in the most satisfying way. Gorgeous texture - velvety and expansive with chalky wet stone elements giving a cleanliness to the tongue. Ripe and extremely chewy but it has incredible aromatics on the palate, the soft florality and delicate saltines that is so appealing with a touch of wood spice on the finish. Opulent and vivacious.Decanter | 96 DECThe 2019 Hosanna has turned out well, exhibiting opulent aromas of sweet berry fruit, plums, spices and creamy new oak. Full-bodied, rich and velvety, it’s broad and enveloping, with supple tannins and an ample core of ripe, generously extracted fruit. Hosanna is the most dramatic wine in the Mouiex portfolio this year, as is often the case.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 95 RPCaptures the dark, lush and opulent fruit of the vintage, with boysenberry, fig and blackberry reduction notes in a much more refined frame than most, offering a remarkably silky and persistent structure that lets the fruit play out. Features enticing black tea, anise and apple wood details through the lengthy finish, with a nice mineral echo. Merlot and Cabernet Franc. Best from 2024 through 2038. 800 cases made, 77 cases imported.Winespectator | 95 WSThis is a grand wine, beautifully balanced with rich black fruits and great concentration. From an estate belonging to the Moueix family it will age gracefully. It has power while also great style. Drink from 2026.Wine Enthusiast | 95 WE