Very soft and polished with beautiful tannins that are poised and beautiful. It’s medium-to full-bodied and gorgeously proportioned. Ready for even more polishing.

The 2020 Berliquet is composed of 69% Merlot and 31% Cabernet Franc, weighing in at 14.5% alcohol. It is aging in French oak barrels, 50% new. Deep purple-black colored, it trots casually out of the glass with effortlessly flamboyant scents of stewed black cherries, warm plums and baked blackberries, plus hints of chocolate mint, violets and licorice with a touch of fertile loam. The medium to full-bodied palate is very tightly wound with layers of ripe black fruits and earthy accents, framed by finely grained tannins and tons of freshness, finishing long and fragrant.
Drink Date
2026 - 2046
Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW

Quite floral in nature, with tinges of orange rind, cherry blossoms, licorice, red plum liqueur and minerality on the nose. The wine is elegant, fresh, polished, sweet and long. Silky and precise, with no hard edges, there is length and salty tannins with energetic, pure red fruits squeezed over crushed rocks and stones. This is the best vintage of Berliquet I have ever tasted. The wine blends 69 % Merlot with 31 % Cabernet Franc 14.5% ABV. 94-96

Tasted by Jane Anson (at Primeur week tastings in Bordeaux, 01 May 2021)

A slightly cooler terroir than its sibling estate Château Canon, a little more clay-based which gives weight, depth and power while also being austere right now, with grippy tannins and a bite of blood orange. Great stuff, can start drinking this in five to six years to allow the structure to soften while keeping the appeal of the wild cherry and blackberry fruits. 50% new oak for 16 months.

Drinking Window 2028 - 2042

Notes of iron, toasty oak, violets, and ample red and blue fruits emerge from the 2020 Château Berliquet, a medium to full-bodied, gorgeously balanced and textured Saint-Emilion based on 69% Merlot and 31% Cabernet Franc. It has a solid kick of background oak, but the fruit is incredibly pure and it has a great mid-palate and outstanding length. Still aging in 50% new French oak, it should benefit from short-term cellaring and cruise for 15 years or more in cold cellars.

(69% M, 31% CF; 40hl/ha; 14.5% ABV; 50% new)
A persistent nose of blackberry-ripe fruit; concentrated, vital in acidity, quite firm in tannin; long and ripely tasty, both fine and chewy at once, and with excellent length. You can taste the more clayey terroir here of Berliquet’s “Côte”; there is more matter than in Canon (made by the same team) and less finesse. That said, this is very good. 2028–40+.

The 2020 Berliquet is the first wine that shows a real change in direction under its new ownership and the team headed by Nicolas Audebert. Bright and chiseled with energy this mid-weight Saint-Émilion is quite promising. Crushed red flowers, mint, sweet red berry fruit. There is still a bit of grittiness in the tannin, but this is a decidedly more finessed style than the wines of the recent past.

vinous.com

The 2020 Berliquet has an open, quite generous bouquet of high-toned, quite floral aromas (iris and violet petals) mixed with Dorset plum, bilberry and wild strawberry. The palate is medium-bodied with a medicinal, menthol-tinged opening, ripe and again, generous. The candied finish just needs to show a little more restraint. Fine, but it will have to manifest more elegance and composure by the time of bottling. Perhaps it was unfair to pour this against the 2020 Canon, also owned by the Wertheimer family, but it highlighted the difference between their respective terroirs.

vinous.com

69% Merlot, 31% Cabernet Franc. Cask sample.
Clean and effortless in style. Delicate summer-fruit notes with a hint of mint. Juicy and fresh with chalky tannins and dry finish. Eminently digeste. (JL)