Chateau de Pez 2023

DECANTER: "Lovely fragrance of floral and dark bramble fruit on the nose. Smooth and supple, succulent and mouthwatering. Really lovely, juicy and bright, light and lean, but there’s texture too, softly grippy tannins that give the St-Estèphe minerality. Cool, crisp, lifted, lovely freshness with blue fruit and lots of pencil led and mint. Balanced, easy, not too sharp not too edgy or hard. I like this a lot, chewy cherry and lean strawberry and crisp cranberry. Great balance, ends a little lean but it’s the minerality that captures and I love it."

JAMES SUCKLING: "A beautiful Pez with a solid core of fruit and creamy, refined tannins. It’s complex with plenty of blackcurrant, graphite, lead-pencil and nutmeg flavors. Linear and polished texture. Very precise and defined. Better than 2022."

JEB DUNNUCK: "The Grand Vin 2023 Château De Pez checks in as 61% Cabernet Sauvignon, 38% Merlot, and the rest Cabernet Franc, resting in 50% new oak for a year, with the final six months in foudre. It has a core of spicy red and black fruits as well as savory flowers, spicy wood, and tobacco. This gives way to a medium to full-bodied, ripe, beautifully textured, seamless wine that has plenty of tannins as well as outstanding length. The quality here continues to soar, and I wouldn't be surprised to see this check in as one of the finest vintages to date from this château. Tasted twice."

THE WINE ADVOCATE: "The 2023 de Pez confirms the progress taking place at this address. As readers may remember, this estate has now been fully restructured and serves as something of a research and development laboratory for its sibling, Pichon Lalande, and director Nicolas Glumineau and his team have been working to bring more precision and purity to the wine. Offering up aromas of cassis, violets and pencil shavings, framed by nicely integrated new oak, it's medium to full-bodied, polished and suave, with a layered core of sweet, vibrant fruit framed by ripe, powdery tannins."

WEINWISSER: "61 % Cabernet Sauvignon, 38 % Merlot, 1 % Cabernet Franc, 13.5 Vol.-%, pH 3.6, 45 hl/ha. Delikates blaubeeriges Bouquet, zarte Fliedernote, Heidelbeerdrops. Am saftigen Gaumen mit seidiger Textur, engmaschigem Tanningerüst und geradlinigem druckvollem Körper. Im gebündelten aromatischen Finale blaue Beeren, Graphit und feinkörnige Adstringenz."

VINUM: "Expressiv, fruchtbetont, florale und pfeffrige Noten; cremige Textur, druckvoll, präzis, hochwertiges Tannin, viel Rasse und Würze."

FALSTAFF: „Dunkles Rubingranat, violette Reflexe, zarte Randaufhellung. Rote Herzkirschen, frische Zwetschken, Mandarinenzesten, helles Nugat ist unterlegt. Mittlerer Körper, rotbeerige Frucht, reife Tannine, gute Frische, ein lebendiger Speisenbegleiter."