Succulent and gorgeous with such supple tannins, yet it’s full bodied and very rich. It’s very savory, too. Dense, yet polished on the palate, showing fresh, minerally and salty notes. You want to drink it already. 27% of the crop and a blend of 76% cabernet sauvignon and 19% merlot, the rest petit verdot and cabernet franc. May 2020

The 2019 Château Margaux Pavillon Rouge is absolutely brilliant, and jaw dropping stuff as a second wine. Deep purple-hued with a beautiful bouquet of ripe red and black fruits as well as sandalwood, spice, and tobacco, it's medium to full-bodied, has polished, seamless tannins, great overall balance, and a stunning finish. It has more than a little Château Margaux class, and while it’s already impossible to resist, it has another 20-25 years of longevity.

Given that Margaux's second wine contains plenty of fruit that made it into the grand vin just a decade or two ago, great things are to be expected from this bottling. Yet I was nonetheless taken aback by the quality of the 2019 Pavillon Rouge. Wafting from the glass with aromas of raspberries, plums and cherries mingled with rose petals and sweet spices, it's medium to full-bodied, sensual and concentrated, with beautifully refined tannins, racy acids and a long, penetrating finish. This is an exquisite Pavillon Rouge that is well worth seeking out. I confess that I don't buy many second wines, but I did purchase a case of this, with alacrity, right after tasting it.

Straight from the off you can tell this is not a shy wine - but why be shy when you can be exuberant? The suggestion of coiled power is clear right from the off, laden with mocha, toast and intense plum and damson fruit trimmed with blood orange and even pink grapefuit. The oak is still porodigious at such a young stage but this passes to reveal a stunning palate of explosive citrus and red fruit flavours, laced with redcurrant, raspberry, layered into ripe plum and milk chocolate. The finish is pure and effortless with a sensation of incredible freshness. Superb. June 2020

Lovely perfumed Merlot type fragrance on the nose, soft, delicate but defined giving blackcurrant and cherry aromas. Lovely texture here, so smooth, with an element of ripeness in the dark berry fruit but also seering freshness that lifts the palate, juicy and highly toned. Such a nice nuance of freshness and cooling fruit. The texture is dense but so soft you get an impression of cream. There's a real quality to the tannins and framing of the fruit, textured and fresh. Delicious. 2% Cabernet Franc completes the blend.

Classically balanced Pavillon Rouge, fairly restrained in its fruits, good tannic structure, very much on the plum and bilberry fruits. There is a lovely balance here, with freshness, less exuberant than the 2018 yet with a quiet sense of building and delivering momentum. As it opens, rose petal and peony aromatics begin to hover above the glass, enticing you in. There is a lot going on here, and it's a successful wine with juicy perfumed fruit. 27% of total production, 47hl/ha yield.

A gorgeous wine, the 2019 Pavillon Rouge represents 27% of the crop. All of the radiance of the year is on display. Super-ripe red cherry, red plum, spice, cedar and new leather are all kicked up a few notches, with silky tannins that wrap it all together. Even with all of its obvious richness, the 2019 possesses notable energy as well as freshness.

Estate Manager Philippe Bascaules and his team turned out two spectacular wines in 2019. Note: I did not taste the Pavillon Blanc, as the estate thought it was too fragile to ship. Bascaules describes 2019 as an easy vintage. Flowering was normal and set was good. Yields came in at a healthy 47 hectoliters per hectare, more than 2017 or 2018, the summer heat spikes notwithstanding. Bascaules opted to pick the Merlot early and gave those lots a very gentle extractions at low temperatures, whereas the Cabernet Sauvignon vinifications were a much more typical 20-22 days at 28-30 degrees Celsius. In tasting, the 2019s have more tannins than any other vintage, with the exception of 2018, and yet the wines don't show that at all.

The 2019 Pavillon Rouge is a blend of 76% Cabernet Sauvignon, 19% Merlot, 2% Cabernet Franc and 3% Petit Verdot, accounting for 47% of the crop. The alcohol came in at 14.2%, the IPT was 75, and the pH was 3.66. Deep garnet-purple in color, it begins a little closed and broody, soon unfurling to offer notes of tar, black licorice, cracked peppercorns and woodsmoke over a core of Morello cherries, boysenberries and warm cassis plus an earthy touch of forest floor. Medium-bodied, the palate is elegant, refreshing and wonderfully refined, with beautifully ripe, plush tannins and impressive freshness lifting the black fruit and earthy layers with a long finish. It should age beautifully!

The 2019 Pavillon Rouge is definitely one sample that repays aeration, initially very tight and unresponsive. It then begins to unfurl, revealing introverted black fruit laced with sea spray and light Japanese nori scents. It is well defined and detailed, yet never becomes as expressive as some of its peers. The palate is very well balanced with very fine tannins. This is clearly more "open for business" and what I really admire is that tang of salinity towards the finish, almost as if compensating for the bashful aromatics. Very fine, though it will require four or five years in bottle.

Tasted blind. Glowing crimson. Creamy texture, buttery nose. Round fruit, which really grabs the palate and brain, and almost disguises the tannic power behind it. Really nice wine! Accessible. Long. (JR)

76% Cabernet Sauvignon, 19% Merlot, 3% Petit Verdot, 2% Cabernet Franc. 27% of the production. Barrel sample. Quite rich and ripe with an almost raisined note to the fruit. A little more robust than usual, the fruit dense and gourmand, the tannins plentiful, firm and grainy behind. A touch of freshness on the finish pulls it together but a bit of chew at the end. (JL)