Exhibits blackberry, mineral, currant and dark chocolate. Full and velvety, with lots of fruit and chewy tannins. Long and caressing, with incredibly sweet fruit and tannins on the finish. Goes on for minutes. A thoroughly gorgeous wine. JS

A beautiful wine, once again, from this property that has been on a superb qualitative roll for several decades. Dense ruby/purple with notes of graphite, background oak, youthful crème de cassis and blackberry fruit as well as a floral underpinning, it is medium to full-bodied, textured, rich and impressive. Still in a somewhat adolescent stage, it should hit full maturity in another 2-3 years and last at least two decades.

The Château Malescot St. Exupery 2005 has a deep garnet colour. The nose is quite austere at first and then once it gets to know you, it flourishes with brambly black fruit, wild strawberry, cedar and graphite - like many, almost Pauillac-like in style. The palate is medium-bodied with dense ripe tannin. There is enormous weight and presence here, layers of powerful spicy red fruit, a very fine line of acidity and a killer line of graphite on the finish. This is an excellent Margaux that deserves another 4 or 5 years in the cellar.

(13.8% natural alcohol) Bright ruby-red. Superripe berry and chocolate aromas, with a whiff of surmaturite Fat, sweet and large-scaled, offering extraordinary volume and an almost syrupy thickness leavened by surprisingly sound acidity. This saturates the entire mouth yet manages to avoid coming off as heavy. Finishes very long and sweet, with thoroughly integrated tannins. "The best vintage since 1961," notes Jean-Luc Zuger. "This is the kind of wine I like." He advises early drinkers to give this 2005 about four hours in a decanter.

Dark, narrow rimmed red; already a fine early bouquet; sweet, intense, cassissy; a lovely medium full balance, fresh in acidity, firm in tannin, framing a fine concentration of cassis cabernet fruit; freshly sweet in flavour, long and complex in flavour, vital, aromatic and with a long, fine, fruit fragrant aftertaste. Still on the firm side, with its oak dry texture very present, but long term promise there. 2022-45+

Mid crimson without great colour concentration. Sweet, creamy nose. Then a pretty chewy cassis palate. Absolutely masses of tannins. This should come right in the end. But it certainly needs time. This may always be a bit chunky and less sophisticated than some but not overworked in any way. (JR)

Very dark crimson. Cedary left-bank character blends with dense ripe fruit to good effect. Flatteringly smooth even now despite the force of the tannins. (JH)