Chateau Giscours 3eme Cru Classe, Margaux 2023

The 2023 Giscours is a potent, brooding wine. Black cherry, plum, new leather, dried herbs, chocolate and gravel infuse the palate with notable depth and intensity. This has really shut down post-bottling. Giscours is usually much more charming in its youth. Today, the stress of a vintage marked by heat and low yields of just 30 hectoliters per hectare comes through in the wine's tannic profile and overall feel.

This really expands in the mouth, with tight tannins that are polished and velvety. The fruit shows depth and purity. Medium to full body. Juicy center-palate. Like the ripe fruit in the center palate. The quality of the tannins in this rises to a new level. The tannins pull you through the wine. 71% cabernet sauvignon, 7% cabernet franc and the rest merlot.

Inky, expertly constructed, fleshy blackberry, pomegranate and cassis fruits, black pepper, sage, rosemary and smoked cumin spice, with lift, nuance and momentum through the palate, clearly an excellent vintage at Giscours, although relatively low 31hl/ha yields.

One heck of an impressive 2023, the 2023 Château Giscours is a blend of 71% Cabernet Sauvignon, 23% Merlot, and 6% Cabernet Franc aged in 50% new French oak. Ripe red and blackcurrants, spring flowers, graphite, and smoked tobacco notes all emerge from the glass, with an almost chalky minerality in the background. It's concentrated, medium-bodied, and has a round, layered mouthfeel, ample mid-palate depth, and beautiful tannins. It reminds me of the 2019 with its complete, layered style, if not slightly more concentrated. Drink 2029-2049.

Some clear Cabernet notes on the nose, herbal elements, blackcurrant leaf and cranberry fruit. Smells ripe and cool with gorgeous milk chocolate elements. Energy is the first thing that springs to mind. There’s power here but there’s precision and velvety tannins to this too which gives both structure and brightness. Excellent harmony, this has roundness and depth, not too lean, with crunchy and really present chalky, wet stone tannins. Cranberry and strawberry with blueberry. Still lean, it’s straight but finessed with long, lingering flavours. It’s not as soft and plush as Giscours can be, not as naturally sexy, it’s more serious, but there’s suaveness here. Excellent effort. 3.75pH. Ageing 50% new oak. 70% grand vin production.

The 2023 Giscours demands coaxing on the nose. Tightly wound, blackberry, blueberry, violet and cedar develop in the glass, though it remains backward, suggesting cellaring is necessary. The palate is medium-bodied with svelte tannins and a silver thread of acidity. The graphite element is a little more pronounced compared to its showing from barrel, nicely structured with a lively and quite spicy finish. After four to five years it should be ready to go but it should have the legs to offer 20-plus years' enjoyment. Tasted twice and oddly better at a tasting outside the château!

The 2023 Giscours is one of the real successes of the vintage, unwinding in the glass with aromas of dark berries, cherries and red fruits mingled with hints of undergrowth, violets and licorice. Medium to full-bodied, deep and layered, it's seamless and concentrated, with a fleshy core of fruit framed by ripe, powdery tannins and succulent acids, concluding with a long, broad finish. It's a blend of 71% Cabernet Sauvignon, 23% Merlot and 6% Cabernet Franc.

Deep garnet-purple in color, the 2023 Giscours flies out of the glass with vibrant notes of blackcurrant jelly, kirsch, and black raspberries giving way to hints of lilacs, pencil lead, and mossy tree bark. The medium-bodied palate is super soft and silky, with a well-knit line of soft acidity framing the bright, vibrant, and elegantly styled red and black fruit layers, finishing long and perfumed. This is a very alluring Giscours! The blend is 71% Cabernet Sauvignon, 23% Merlot, and 6% Cabernet Franc, yield 34 hl/ha, aging in oak barrels, 50% new.