Crème de cassis and black raspberry fruits intermixed with spring flowers, graphite, tobacco leaf, and spicy wood all emerge from the 2025 Château Gruaud Larose, a deep purple-hued Saint-Julien based on 77% Cabernet Sauvignon, 21% Merlot, and 2% Cabernet Franc that's resting in 80% new French oak. This beauty stopped me in my tracks with its sheer class and purity. Full-bodied on the palate, it has a layered, graceful mouthfeel, gorgeous tannins, and a great finish, all grounded by a remarkable sense of balance and elegance. It checks in at 13.47% alcohol with a pH of 3.71. This is a heavenly Saint-Julien that brings the richness of the vintage alongside an unmistakable sense of class. Bravo!

Such scented notes on the nose, more like a sultry summer’s evening with jasmine, lavender, violets, peonies and deep, heady blackcurrants alongside tobacco, liquorice and clove. Supple and so wonderfully textured – grippy but finely placed with an almost crushed stone aspect but this really holds the juiciness such a long time – strawberry and raspberry, crunchy cranberry, with a persistence and energetic finish. What a wine. Silky, almost a delicate touch here where there’s such precision yet still at the same time there’s concentration and intensity. 11% press wine (all from Cabernet). 3.71pH. A yield of 26hl/ha. 50% grand vin production.

The 2025 Gruaud Larose is rich, ample and exotic right out of the gate. Dark-toned fruit, graphite, licorice, mocha and lavender are all dialed up. The 2025 has a lot to offer, but will need a number of years to be at its finest. There's a lot of wine here. Even with all its intensity, the tannins show no signs of stress. All the 2025 needs is a lot of time in the cellar to shed its considerable baby fat.

You get the tannic grip of the vintage in spades, but as you sit with the wine, a creaminess appears through the mid palate that is highly appealing, with a cocoa bean and espresso lick alongside berry fruits, crayon and graphite. Smoky signoff on the finish right now, will integrate over ageing, a ton of potential here, great quality. 75% new oak. Virginie Sallette 8th vintage, a lovely expression of Gruaud. Harvest September 3 to 20. 3.71 pH

Unwinding in the glass with notes of dark berries, cassis, plums mingled with hints of violet and pencil shavings, the 2025 Gruaud Larose is medium- to full-bodied, supple and suave, with a deep core of fruit, lovely energy and ripe, powdery tannins. Checking in at 13.5% alcohol, this blend of 77% Cabernet Sauvignon, 21% Merlot and 2% Cabernet Franc will bear a special gold label to commemorate the estate's 300th anniversary. William Kelley.

The 2025 Gruaud Larose comes in a specially designed etched bottle to celebrate the 300th anniversary of the first vintage labelled as Gruaud Larose (although there were already vines in situ). Picked between September 3 and 20 at 26 hl/ha, average for the appellation, and aged in new oak, it has a less outgoing bouquet than its peers, tightly wound black fruit, sous-bois and tobacco. Fine delineation and firmly classical in style. The palate is medium-bodied with slightly chalky tannins. A more tertiary Gruaud Larose, hints of dark powdered chocolate combine with black fruit, leading to a more structured vintage that lingers nicely in the mouth. Perhaps slightly less deep than some of its peers, this has a tendency to gain weight during élevage. Englishman's claret!