2020 Château Caronne-Ste.-Gemme

The 2020 Caronne Ste Gemme has a powerful nose with well-defined blackberry and blueberry fruit, hints of iris and blueberry emerging with time. The palate is powdery in texture, modest depth, quite sweet with a touch of espresso lacing the black fruit towards the finish. Perhaps just missing a bit of class, but hey, no complaints given the reasonable price on the market.

Old school, great balance, concentrated, savoury and slighlty chewy tannins, chalky almost, this is classic claret territory, enjoyable austerity, dark fruits and mint. A value pick to look out for. Now owned by Bernard Magrez, bought in 2022.

The dense ruby/purple-hued 2020 Château Caronne Ste Gemme offers a more medium-bodied, balanced, nicely textured and fruited style that carries lots of cassis fruits as well as violets, leafy herbs, and a hint of graphite. Drink it over the coming 5-7 years, if not longer.