2020 Destieux

A seriously good Saint-Emilion that readers will not regret buying, the 2020 Château Destieux offers up a medium to full-bodied, vibrant, concentrated, balanced profile as well as an awesome bouquet of crème de cassis, ripe black cherries, iron, and leafy tobacco. I love its tannins, it has a great mid-palate, integrated oak, and outstanding length. It's as good, if not better, than the 2018 and 2019 (both of which are gorgeous wines.) Give bottles 4-5 years if you can and enjoy over the following 15-20 years. Bravo.

The 2020 Destieux has a clean but slightly overdone nose with light peppermint scents coming through with aeration. The palate is full-bodied with quite dense tannins. It's plush but less overbearing than I have found previous vintages of Destieux, managing to retain some freshness and precision on the finish. I'll keep an eye on this.

Muscular and concentrated, serious expression of blackcurrant, bilberry, tobacco leaf, liqourice, with shoulders, grilled oak and concentrated tannins. Needs time to soften.