“Coming from the same team as Château Le Gay yet a tiny selection of Merlot, the 2019 Château La Violette offers a slightly more elegant, finesse-driven style that carries gorgeous blue fruits, violets, damp earth, and exotic, floral nuances. This beauty has ultra-fine tannins, no hard edges, and is just an incredible mix of power and elegance. Bravo.” June 2020

Signature Pomerol in spades. The tannins are fierce at this point, closed in a fist around the fruits, but there is the most deliciously precise bitter chocolate shavings set against plump damson fruits, and tightly drawn cassis berries. Brilliant quality. Tons of potential, cooling eucalyptus freshness. Vignobles Péré Vergé.

The 2019 La Violette bursts out of the blocks with a smorgasbord of lush black cherry and blueberry fruit swathed in new oak, well defined and focused with incense and Clementine scents emerging with aeration. The palate is bright and fresh on the entry. The new oak here is nearly folded into the mostly black fruit laced with graphite (you might be duped into thinking there is a dash of Cabernet Sauvignon in the blend!) Long in the mouth, this is a less flashy and more classically styled La Violette that should give 30 years of pleasure. June 2020

Very deep purple-black colored, the 2019 La Violette flaunts a stunning nose of Black Forest cake, red roses, blueberry preserves and prunes with hints of black tea, cinnamon toast, Sichuan pepper and forest floor. Medium to full-bodied, the palate is beautifully poised with firm, ripe tannins and lovely freshness supporting the fragrant black fruit layers, finishing long and spicy.
Lisa Perrotti-Brown, June 2020

From a site with soils richer in clay that's planted with more Merlot, the 2019 La Violette is even more powerful than its stablemate Le Gay. Offering up aromas of plum preserve, strawberry liqueur, loamy soil, burning embers, spices and dark chocolate, it's full-bodied, thick and textural, with a rich, muscular profile and a broad, heady finish. This is a ripe, powerful wine that privileges impact over finesse, but it will give plenty of pleasure for admirers of the style.

The 2019 La Violette is a rich, dense wine. Inky dark fruit, chocolate, sweet spice and new leather all flesh out in the glass. La Violette is heady and exotic to the core, showing tremendous depth and concentration. This is a decidedly extracted style, with plenty of oak influence. June 2020

Smooth and crunchy, full of life, vibrant and captivating with strawberry, raspberry and herbal elements combining to give freshness and mass appeal. It's verging on the more savoury side with lots of black liquorice but well worked and flavourful. I really like this, good persistence, depth, balance and harmony, with balanced acidity. Very appealing and will age well.

Tasted blind. Very sweet indeed – flattering and exotic. Dry finish but lots of drama! (JR)