So much sea salt and crunchy fruit with berry and grape character. Some orange, too. Medium-bodied, bright and vivid. Lively finish.

Intense muscular contraction to the tannins on the opening beats, the fruit gets creamy as it opens, with vivid raspberry reflections and plenty of mouthwating salinity. This is a pretty serious Saintayme, great quality and great value. Olivier Gautrat alongside Noémie Durantou. Harvest September 17 to October 3 (extremely late for the vintage, because cool clays in a cooler part of St Etienne de Lisse, something you also see in the generous 50hl/h yields), 30% new oak.

The 2022 Saintayme is bright, floral and vibrant in this vintage, almost surprisingly so. Crushed red berry fruit, rose petal, chalk, mint and white pepper all run through this taut, nervy Saint-Émilion. All the elements are so well balanced. I especially admire the wine's persistence and inner perfume. Terrific.

All Merlot from a mix of terroirs, the 2022 Saintayme has impressive darker cherry and blackberry-like fruit as well as medium to full body, a terrific chalky mineral character, ripe yet firmer tannins, and outstanding length.

The 2022 Saintayme was picked from 17 September to 3 October and matured in 30% new oak. It gushes with quite intense red cherries, kirsch and orange pith scents, lovely definition, simple in a positive sense. The palate is medium-bodied with darker fruit than the nose suggest, quite saline with a black pepper-tinged finish. Enjoy this over the next decade.

From a later-ripening site in Saint-Étienne-de-Lisse, the 2022 Saintayme was picked between September 17 and October 3. Offering up a rich aromatic palette featuring aromas of rich cherries, berries, licorice and toasty oak, it's medium to full-bodied, broad and concentrated, with youthfully firm, chalky tannins that assert themselves on the finish.

100% Merlot. Cask sample. Fragrant and relatively fresh. Alcohol heightens the mid-palate sweetness. Tannins a little chewy and dry on the finish. (JL)