The 2012 d'Issan has a very perfumed and expressive bouquet with ebullient blackberry, iodine and cedar scents, very focused and classy with seamlessly integrated new oak. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannin, perfect acidity, compact at the moment but brimming over with mineralité and tension. This seems to have blossomed in bottle after a patchy showing in barrel and now it comes highly recommended. Tasted at the d’Issan vertical held at the property.

The 2012 d'Issan is dark and beautifully layered in the glass. Plum, crème de cassis, leather, herbs and cloves open up in in a silky, polished wine that impresses with its balance and overall poise. The d'Issan is a bit dark for Margaux, but that is a detail; the 2012 is a gorgeous wine in every way. The blend is 67% Cabernet Sauvignon and 33% Merlot. This is terrific showing from d'Issan and winemaker Eric Boissenot.

A gorgeous second wine, the 2012 Blason d'Issan is beautifully sexy, soft, and creamy textured, with a dense purple color and attractive blueberry and blackberry fruit intermixed with some licorice and camphor. It is stunning, lush, sexy and very, very forward, an ideal second wine that reflects its appellation of origin but delivers gorgeous, even luxurious fruit levels. Drink it over the next decade.