This Levantine Hill Estate Cabernet Sauvignon is redolent with blackberry, blackcurrant and cocoa-rich chocolate on the nose. Followed by the supple, balanced middle palate evokes truffle, bramble and earthy complexity on the palate. An outstanding example of site and region, its chewy, satisfying tannins are beautifully integrated with fleshy fruit characters, hedonic spice and lingering, persistent length.

La Dame de Montrose, first vintage 1983, is the highly-regarded second wine of Chateau Montrose, the St. Estephe deuxième cru (second growth). Montrose has a little more than 90ha of vines, the entire site overlooking the Gironde. The vineyard is 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 32% Merlot, 6% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot. Around 50% (or less) of the crop goes to make the grand vin and around 30% (or more) goes into La Dame de Montrose. (The rest is used elsewhere or sold in bulk.) In good years La Dame de Montrose is considered a bargain, in the best years it stands alone as a great wine. The Dame de Montrose herself is the late Yvonne Charmolüe, who ran the estate from 1944 to 1960.

"A 64-36% blend matured for 22 months in 70% new French oak. Bright, light hue, still youthful; a complex wine from start to finish, the bouquet expressive, the medium-bodied palate with many messages of savoury red fruits, black olive and briar, corralled by fine, but persistent, tannins." 94 points, James Halliday Wine Companion, July 2014.

The wine is gorgeously fruited and fragrant on the nose showing dark fruit richness with smoked game, vanilla, chocolate tart and cedar characters. The palate is concentrated and wonderfully weighted, delivering fabulous fruit intensity and stylish oak infusion, backed by fine chalky tannins, finishing superbly long and sturdy. At its best: now to 2025.

Crimson in colour with a delicate shimmer. Powerful nose with subtle scents of high grade wood and baking spices, with an attractively fresh note of menthol. Rich and balanced on the palate. A well-managed aging process adds an appealing earthiness, with flavours of wild berries and mahogany. Long and elegant on the finish with molten tannins and the freshness so characteristic of this great wine

'The finest vintage to date, better even than the stellar 2010, the 2015 Crozes-Hermitage Domaine De Thalabert is a gorgeous, deep, layered and incredibly satisfying Crozes. Blackcurrants, olive tapenade, truffles and earthy notes all emerge from this full-bodied, gorgeously textured and seamless 2015. With fine tannin and no hard edges, it can be drunk today or cellaring for 15-20 years.' Jeb Dunnuck