Cru bourgeois 2014 - Decanter Panel Tasting - part I

Pretty red berries on a slightly confected nose, but there is a focus and a sense of tension and drama from the gentle black spices. This is still young but astringent rather than drying, and will soften due to the fruit content.

A very well crafted Haut-Médoc here with all the classicism you could wish for. Soft tobacco and plant expressions with a touch of well handled chocolate oak. The tannin bouncers are guarding the door until this wine opens out in years to come.

Reticent on the nose but with depth and precision on the palate. It is a gourmet expression of the Médoc. The oak is present but doesn’t get in the way of fruit, rich chocolate and damson quality.

Fresh and breezy on the nose, there is a well worked, glossy sheen to the fruit here, with cassis and wet stone characters. There is not an overload of oak or green tones, so it is classy with a lot left to give.

Here there is lovely sweetness and a sense of juiciness and lift through the palate, you really can see that this wine has a sense of movement. The cool-but-not-green notes which characterise the best wines of the vintage really come through.

Firm long tannins characterise this sweet, perfumed wine that has plenty of chocolatey depths. It is part of a rich, complex world that is both generous and elegant. A gratifying Haut Médoc from what is often a difficult vintage.

There is a lovely grilled rosemary depth to the fruit here, with an earthy backdrop. The tannins are insisting and have a pliable astringency to them. Very true to the appellation ideal, and a wine you can happily put away for a while in the cellar.

Roasty, ripe and warm, this wine is exuberant with enticing scents of great classicism. A core of blackcurrant fruit is supported by a polished oak veneer, even some menthol touches. It has the feel of a seriously good Bordeaux, and will open up beautifully with food.

A little reductive at first, but give it some air and a whoosh of clean blackberry fruit rides in on a bed of spicy and exotic apparent oak. No green notes at all, and ample depth and richness. The fruit density will carry the oak through.

A delicate, perfumed nose starts this off, leading to a fresh and lithe palate full of attractive fruit and tiny, firm tannins. Nothing is done to excess, resulting in a decent wine with evident Margaux character.