Margaux has had a great vintage in 2015. The quality is wonderfully homogeneous this year. The wines have attractive perfume and exciting purity. Many display exceptional balance and in most cases nicely judged extraction. The appellation is topped by Château Margaux and Château Palmer, but it’s fair to say that qualitatively Château Brane-Cantenac, Château Giscours and Chateau Rauzan-Ségla are not much behind. Many reviewers have spotted the quality of Giscours this year in particular. It is exceptional. Yet the real beauty of Margaux in 2015 is that there is quality across the range. Many properties have made some of their potentially best ever wines. Still, whether these justify some of the price rises [up as much as 44% on 2014] remains to be seen.

Château Haut-Brion is one of the wines of the 2015 vintage. It has remarkable depth and a wonderfully succulent texture. There is power but there is also restraint. Château La Mission Haut-Brion is typically the drier and more obviously tannic of the two at this stage. There is prodigious scale here in La Mission, though I usually underrate it young. The wine definitely has the structure for three to four decades of ageing and will probably need a decade in bottle to emerge. Expect Haut-Brion to come up for air sooner. The rare whites here require the usual superlatives. At this stage for me La Mission Blanc is slightly weightier with Haut-Brion Blanc displaying a fraction more race and zip, which mostly reflects their respective blends, the former Sémillon dominant, the latter Sauvignon dominant. Both are remarkable. Ah, if only I could afford these wines…  

Château Haut-Bailly has produced beautiful wine in 2015. This historic property with enviable terroir close to Léognan has been on song for a number of years. Considerable investments by the owners across almost two decades are resulting in wines that are now regularly amongst the very best Bordeaux offers. Haut-Bailly’s 2015 blend of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 36% Merlot, and, for the first time, a smidgen [4%] of Petit-Verdot, is top-drawer. It has tremendous concentration and depth but also approachability this year which contrasts with the wines usually brooding infancy. Recent acquisition Château La Pape is pretty and perfumed and has attractive texture. Both wines, Haut-Bailly especially, speak to the excitement that surrounds the 2015 vintage here in Pessac-Léognan.

There are typically vivid fruit tones in the wines from the Jean-Pierre Moueix stable in 2015. It might sound daft but they make Pomerol to drink. I don’t mean in a flashy and upfront sense, but wines that appeal through delicacy, balance and harmony. The emphasis here is on fragrance and freshness. There is a vitality across the range that is impressive. Château Lafleur-Gazin and Château Latour à Pomerol are stand-out beauties. Château Bourgneuf is consistent year in, year out and the 2015 looks especially good to me. At the top of the range, there is a brooding effort from Château Hosanna, a delicious and nimble Château La Fleur-Pétrus and what looks to be profound and deep Château Trotanoy. So plenty to enjoy here!