This is a big move forward for Giscours. Full-bodied yet agile and fresh with tannins that are precise and integrated, with great beauty and length. Well-structured and vivid. Extremely fine yet defined tannins, and then it opens like a butterfly.

The 2022 Giscours is a regal, sophisticated wine. Succulent red cherry, blood orange, spice, menthol and rose petal lend notable vibrancy and freshness throughout. Most surprisingly, the 2022 remains light on its feet, especially for a wine made from such low yields in a warm, dry year. Over the last few years Giscours has been one of the most improved properties in the Médoc. The 2022 is another step in that direction. Sublime.

The 2022 Giscours was picked between 1 and 29 September, one of the earliest ever, with no SO2 added until blending and using bio-protection (yeasts) to protect the must. It has a delightful and sensual bouquet with lifted, violet and peony-scented blueberry and black cherry fruit. This is very well-defined and perhaps the purest I have encountered from barrel. The palate is medium-bodied with a disarming silky texture, harmonious and focused. It's mineral-driven with a poised and pixelated finish. Certainly, this represents one of the best wines from this Margaux estate in recent years, echoing their golden period of the 60s and early 70s. Tasted twice with consistent notes.

Well judged and executed, with the vintage character coming through with the rich plum, cassis and fresh fig fruits, alongside black pepper and clove spices, but overall the feel is savoury, with austere tannins that are clearly revving up and have plenty of character. Impressive lift also, with juice running right through the palate, giving breath to the concentrated muscular tannic frame. Austerity also at this point, relatively rare and welcome in 2022, and emphasising a floral and smoky curl on the finish. 50% new oak. Entire harvest in the Grand Vin for the first time ever at Giscours (although I assume there must have been some of the production that was not bottled under the label). Axel Marchal consultant, Alexander Van Beek director.

With the 2022 Giscours, this estate takes another step up, delivering a deep and characterful wine redolent of cherries, dark berries, violets, peony and forest floor. Medium to full-bodied, broad shouldered and layered, it's deep and elegantly muscular, with impressive concentration, abundant but refined tannins and a structural authority reminiscent of the great Giscours vintages of the 1970s. Why is it so good? There are many reasons, but one is the high proportion of old vines—almost 60% of the blend deriving from vines that are over 50 years old—in a vintage that favored vines with deep, well-established root systems. Another is the increasing precision of harvesting at this address: Giscours's old vines are frequently co-planted with younger replacements that have filled any gaps in the ranks over the years; so, blocks are now picked in two or three passages instead of all at once, with the younger vines picked first.

Clearly one of the finest vintages from this château, the 2022 Château Giscours reveals a dense purple hue to go with beautiful Cabernet-driven aromatics of smoky blue fruits, iron, lead pencil, and spring flowers, as well as an almost marine-like character developing with time in the glass. Medium to full-bodied on the palate, it has silky, perfectly integrated tannins, a great mid-palate, and outstanding length. It's a serious, age-worthy, incredibly impressive wine in the making.