Chateau Gazin, Pomerol 2019

The 2019 has a beguiling bouquet with red berry fruit, truffle and light Provençal herb scents that are beautifully defined. The palate is medium-bodied with pliant tannins. This is exquisite in terms of balance, silky smooth, building gradually with a harmonious and quite effortless finish. Divine - this is a stellar showing. Tasted blind at the Southwold annual tasting.

A rich, full and heady nose. On the palate there's ripe blackcurrant, red cherries, raspberries and strawberries but also some mint, black pepper and truffle. Excellent precision and density with a seductive dark chocolate edge. Feels well handled with a sense of classicism. A powerful, muscular and confident wine, but with suppleness - this has density but also grace with a cooling finish comprising liquorice, mint and soft salinity. A great wine.

The 2019 Gazin is a fleshy, dramatic wine that wafts from the glass with aromas of ripe berry fruit mingled with subtle hints of truffle and violets, its new oak already entirely integrated. Medium to full-bodied, velvety and seamless, it's broad and textural, with lively acids, powdery tannins and fine length on the finish.

While the 2019 Château Gazin isn't going to match the 2018, it's an elegant, solid Pomerol delivering spicy red and black cherry fruits, notes of cedary herbs and flowers, medium-bodied richness, silky yet building tannins, and a great finish. This elegant, nicely structured, balanced beauty will benefit from 3-5 years of bottle age and keep for 15-20 years.

The 2019 Gazin is super-impressive in this tasting. So balanced and elegant, the 2019 is aromatic, light on its feet and wonderfully nuanced. Crushed flowers, mint, sweet red cherry, mocha and tobacco are all beautifully lifted in the glass.

A serious, deliciously Left Bank feel to this Gazin, with brooding cassis fruits, muscular tannins running through with the sappy salinity that I am finding in many of the great Pomerols in 2019. Layered smoked earth and tobacco leaf, together with a creamier feel to the fruits, become clearer as this opens, and this is built for long life. A yield of 44hl/ha.

Deep garnet-purple colored, the 2019 Gazin sashays out of the glass with pretty black cherries, kirsch and raspberry pie scents followed by hints of wilted roses, aniseed and damp soil. Medium to full-bodied, the palate has lovely restraint with loads of earth and mineral nuances taking center stage, framed by rounded tannins and soft acidity, finishing long and savory.