This is an powerful white with superb density and phenolic muscule. It's full-bodied and really impressive. Opulent and rounded. Exotic and muscular. Great white. Feels like a great Montrachet. One for the cellar. 8,000 bottles made. pH 3.18.

I'd say the finest white coming out of the Médoc, and clearly in the top tier of whites in all of Bordeaux, the 2022 Pavillon Blanc De Margaux is, as always, 100% Sauvignon Blanc that was raised in 20% new 300-ltier barrels. It has an incredible nose of honeyed limes, caramelized lemon zest, green almonds, mint, and crushed stone. Medium-bodied on the palate, it has a great mid-palate, vibrant acidity, and a great finish. Sauvignon Blanc doesn't get much better (if at all.)

Pale gold in colour, maintaining pale green reflections even in such a hot vintage, and this delivers a sharp almost steely feel, with a white flower and citrus kick. The luscious aspect of the year comes through with lemon confit through the mid palate, and overall the fruit flavours and textures are creamier than in 2021, but this has nuance and lift. The team at Margaux, led by Philippe Bascaules, is always so careful to avoid skin contact in the whites, and only use the first fraction of the juice that comes out of the press;, and it pays off in this exceptional wine. 3.18ph (higher than last year but still low enough to give clear grip). Harvest for the whites from August 18 for five days. 14h/h yield, extremely low, with 50% of the crop in Pavillon Blanc (they are introducing a 2nd white wine this year, although name not yet announced).

An impressively vibrant wine for this warm vintage, the 2022 Pavillon Blanc offers up inviting aromas of sweet gooseberries, mango, lemongrass and pastry cream, followed by a medium to full-bodied, fleshy palate that's bright and nicely concentrated, concluding with a finish marked by elegantly mordant dry extract. Harvest for Sauvignon Blanc began on 18 August at Château Margaux.

On the palate, the 2022 Pavillon Blanc retains terrific freshness and is done in a style that lies somewhere in between more generous years such as 2018, 2019 and 2020, and the more saline years like 2017 and 2021. This is a very creamy, layered dry white. Here, too, I am struck by the wine’s precision.

The 2022 Pavillon Blanc was picked from 18 August, finishing five days later. Just 50% of the crop was used (14hL/ha), so there will be a second wine for the first time, which is as yet unnamed. Light white peach and orchard fruit on the nose, perhaps it is missing the vigor of the previous vintage? The palate is well balanced with grapefruit and touches of tangerine, quite linear in style, good tension with a bright finish that just lacks the complexity of the best whites from this First Growth.