2022 Berliquet

The 2022 Berliquet has a composed bouquet, a melange of red and black fruit, cedar and briar, gently unfolding. Real class. The palate is framed by silky-smooth tannins, fresh and vibrant, closing down a little towards the finish but retaining focus and delineation. There is a precision here that will see it through and eventually become a very classy Saint-Émilion '22. Tasted blind at the Southwold tasting in London.

The 2022 Berliquet offers up lovely aromas of raspberries, cherries, violets and pencil shaving, followed by a medium to full-bodied, lively and seamless palate that's dense and muscular, with rich tannin and a mineral finish. As readers will remember, this is an estate on the rise, with changes including opting to retain higher canopies, which means that the fruiting zone of rows planted along the slope are now shaded, preserving freshness.

A richer, darker-fruited wine than its big brother Canon, the 2022 Château Berliquet comes from slightly more clay soils and is always a bigger, broader wine, especially when compared to Canon and its neighbors on the upper plateau. It offers more currant and black cherry fruit as well as scorched earth, chocolate, and truffly aromas and flavors that gain persistence and intensity with time in the glass. These carry to a rich, full-bodied Saint-Emilion that has a beautifully layered mouthfeel, plenty of mid-palate depth, and a great finish. The level of purity and precision here is exceptional. The 2022 is 65% Merlot and 35% Cabernet Franc, from a mix of clay and limestone soils on the upper plateau, that spent 16 months in 44% new French oak, with 8% in amphora. It will evolve nicely over the coming 20-25 years.