A Merlot-dominant blend of 76% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Franc, 5% Malbec, and 4% Cabernet Sauvignon, the 2025 Château Soutard is beautiful. Juicy red, blue, and black fruits, graphite, crushed stone, and flowers all define the aromatics of this quintessential, medium to full-bodied, concentrated 2025. On the palate, it has ripe tannins and a great finish. It's going to spend 15 months in 50% new barrels with the balance in once-used barrels and foudre.

Black raspberries, black cherries, flowers, licorice, and espresso beans form the core of the perfume. The palate is packed with layers of fresh, almost zesty, red with black fruits. Clean, pure, and touched with the essence of minerality, the lively finish is long, soft, and juicy. The wine blends 76% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Franc, 5% Malbec, and 4% Cabernet Sauvignon. Drink from 2030-2050.

Engaging aromas where ripe plum and dark berry aromas are lifted by a streak of crunchy cranberry freshness. The palate shows a composed, mid-weight profile, never too high-toned, with integrated and unobtrusive tannins at this stage. I like the quiet precision to the structure, suggesting careful extraction and a respect for fruit purity. The élevage, with a measured use of oak, should gradually broaden the mid-palate and lend additional roundness, helping to knit the components together over time. Notably, the wine was served quite cool, which further emphasized its freshness and restraint, yet it still conveyed ample depth and underlying ripeness. Furthermore, the wine achieves a high degree of finesse and balance.

The 2025 Soutard takes all the qualities of this site and dials them up a few notches. Red/purplish fruit, lavender, rose petal and a kick of spice open first, framed by suave, silky tannins that add to an impression of finesse. All the elements are so well balanced.

Another superb effort, the 2025 Soutard appears to rival the 2023 and 2022 rendition for the title of the finest wine this estate has produced to date. Unfurling in the glass with aromas of dark berries, cherries and plums mingled with hints of rose and iris, it's medium- to full-bodied, fleshy and enveloping, with lovely purity, refined tannins and a long, penetrating finish. William Kelley, The Wine Advocate.

Chalky bright texture, sweet damson puree and blueberry fruits, finesse and serious structured, will soften further over ageing, needs a kiss of oak right now, which is something I rarely find myself writing. Jane Anson, Inside Bordeaux.

The 2025 Soutard has a bright nose with black cherries, cassis and violet scents. It needs just a little more delineation, but is not bad. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannins. It is not the most complex or substantial Saint-Émilion, but there is elegance and purity here, and it should give 15 to 18 years' drinking pleasure.