2019 Prieure Lichine
Buying options
Tasting notes
Deep purple colour, delicate floral notes some wet leaf savoury tones too. Very ripe, summer pudding fruit, violets, touch of raisin fruit on the palate, viscous, slight syrupy texture. Tannins bring freshness and a bit of focus possibly a touch sharp but will soften. A ripe, rich wine of moderate structure. Nice oak tones add a bit of flavour complexity.
Critic scores
Average Score
Decanter
Jancis Robinson MW
More reviews and scores
The 2019 Prieuré-Lichine has a clean and precise bouquet with blackberry, tobacco, undergrowth and light smoky scents - very classic in style, the oak nicely integrated. The palate is medium-bodied with high-toned black cherries and blueberry fruit, spicier than expected with an energetic if not particularly complex finish. Enjoyable rather than intellectual. This performance does not correspond with its showing either from barrel or just after bottling, so I will seek to revisit this Margaux. Tasted blind at the Southwold annual tasting.
Tasted blind. Dark crimson. Lightly introverted nose and quite Médoc, rather than Margaux specifically. Still some sign of extraction on the end. Some green-tannin notes on the end. Ambitious but still very youthful. (JR)
Excellent quality, full of pleasure, this unrolls slowly and carefully, great texture to the tannins, with sculpted, precise black cherry and damson fruits, cocoa bean, liqourice and gunsmoke. 51hl/h yield overall, 45hl/h yield for the 1st wine (which reflects the fact that some of the best plots are old vines that give less yield overall). 40% new oak continuing this gradual reduction.
About the producer
After 50 years under the direction of the Lichine family, this leading Margaux estate entered a new chapter in 1999 when négociant Ballande took the reins, continuing the property’s previous upward trajectory.