2020 Lascombes (Margaux)

A château that is used to finding charm and exuberance whatever the vintage, and it has avoided overly concentrated flavours. There is plenty of charm to the cassis and damson fruit but they are a little heavy through the mid palate which emphasises the grilled coffee and chocolate and adds bitter touches to the end of palate. Serious. A yield of 40hl/ha. 92 points

The 2020 Lascombes has a straightforward, delineated bouquet of gentle red berry fruit laced with Earl Grey and very subtle ash scents. The palate is medium-bodied with pliant tannins, fine acidity, cracked black pepper sprinkled over the black fruit and a little bluntness on the finish. I stayed with this sample for an hour to see if it would gain more flesh, but it somehow remains a little austere. 88-90 points

Deep garnet-purple in color, the 2020 Lascombes comes skipping out of the glass with bright, cheery scents of raspberry coulis, blackberry preserves and fresh blackcurrants, plus suggestions of pencil shavings, dried roses and charcuterie with a waft of bouquet garni. The medium to full-bodied palate has great tension and energy, delivering crunchy red and black fruit layers and a firm, grainy frame, finishing long with an herbal lift. 92-94 points

Very dark core with deep crimson rim. Initial impression is a little bit toasty from the oak but rich dark fruit lies below, both blackcurrant and something a bit more lively like mulberry. Smooth but slightly thick tannins, a bit flat and a little too dry on the finish. Rather severe. 15.5 points

Dense, faintly herbal, black-fruit ripe; rich and full and firmly tannic, still a touch sturdy, though so much finer than it used to be; freshly sweet, plenty of matter, quite complex, a mass of fruit there within its firm frame, and with good, light, fragrant length. Fine wine, and there will be many to whom it will give a great deal of pleasure, though it seems, in the context of much of Bordeaux’s current emphasis on finesse of textures, perhaps a touch old-fashioned, solid. A question of taste … and trend? It will need a decade and some, at least. 91-93 points