Wow. Really savory this year with an extremely dense and gorgeous palate of ripe fruit and ripe tannins, but an underlying minerality and intensity. Shows really integrated and melted tannins, but then it kick-starts at the end. Neoclassical. - jamessuckling.com, April 2019

Made of 100% Merlot, the 2018 Péby Faugères is deep garnet-purple colored and comes bounding out of the glass with gregarious notes of blueberry pie, plum pudding, chocolate-covered cherries and mulberries with hints of eucalyptus, cinnamon stick, cloves and unsmoked cigars plus a waft of cedar chest. Full-bodied, taut and muscular, the palate has a rock-solid structure of firm, velvety tannins and wonderful freshness, finishing very long with loads of mineral sparks. - Lisa Perrotti-Brown, April 2019, The Wine Advocate

Made of 100% Merlot, the 2018 Péby Faugères has a deep garnet-purple color and bombastic scents of plum preserves, baked black cherries, cedar chest and blueberry pie with an undercurrent of menthol, black olives, charcuterie and Indian spice, plus a waft of oolong tea. The seductively rich, full-bodied palate (15.5% alcohol) delivers mouth-coating black fruit preserves with a velvety texture and just enough freshness, finishing long and spicy yet with a touch of oak poking through. It will need a good 5 years in cellar for the oak to settle in, then drink it over the next 20 years or more.

The 2018 Péby-Faugères has a ripe and generous bouquet with precocious red cherry, boysenberry, fig and violet aromas that are thankfully well defined and focused. The palate is medium-bodied with saturated tannins that frame the multi-layered dark cherry and cassis fruit, allied with a fine balance and probably the most precise finish that I have ever encountered on this Saint-Émilion. Superb.

The 2018 Péby Faugères, 100% Merlot from 45 year-old vines, is fabulous. Dense, inky and rich, with tremendous concentration, the 2018 offers superb intensity but with less of the pushed extraction that was once the norm here. Blackberry jam, spice, cloves, menthol, and licorice build in a potent, flamboyant Saint-Émilion. In 2018, Péby Faugères shows a slightly brighter and more floral profile than in the past. It will be interesting to see how the 2018 and future vintages develop, as Péby Faugères has always been distinctive. The 2018 is a terrific effort from proprietor Silvio Denz and consulting winemaker Michel Rolland. My only real critique is that Péby Faugères and Faugères are more closer in style than they usually are, which is remarkable as the blends are totally different!

Barrel sample. Inky core. Super-ripe and pure cassis, like Ribena. Intensely fruity nose. Ripe, generous, lots of toasty oak and vanilla so quite sweet overall in fruit and oak. Deep, smooth texture, just a little too marked by the oak, for now at least. - Julia Harding, jancisrobinson.com, April 2019

Barrel sample. Inky core. Super-ripe and pure cassis, like Ribena. Intensely fruity nose. Ripe, generous, lots of toasty oak and vanilla so quite sweet overall in fruit and oak. Deep, smooth texture, just a little too marked by the oak, for now at least. (JH)