En Primeur 2022 New Release: Château Giscours, Château L’If, De Pez, Reserve de la Comtesse
Bordeaux Index
9 June 2023
Perhaps one of the best vintages every produced from the current era at the estate
Today is the highly anticipated release of the 2022 vintage from Giscours at GBP 600/12.
At 90ha in size, this is one of the largest estates in Margaux, one that, under the hand of Alex van Beek (General Manager) has once again been shining in the spotlight. This is a truly picturesque estate with the fairy-tale wrought-iron gates, beautiful park gardens and sweeping driveway that signals you have reached a serious property! In the past the property had been planted to a majority of Merlot but this trend was revered from the early 2000s. The success of the wine this year is perhaps due to exceptional quality of the old vine plots that were able to succeed despite the drought conditions of the vintage.
“This is a big move forward for Giscours.” James Suckling
“Certainly, this represents one of the best wines from this Margaux estate in recent years, echoing their golden period of the 60s and early 70s.” Neal Martin
The Albada family have decided to make Giscours their absolute focus, offloading their other property, Chateau du Tertre, in order to give their primary investment their fullest attention. The highly acclaimed Alex van Beek is now assisted by top consultant Thomas Duclot and there is a new technical director with global experience on board to really help the estate to maximise its potential.
“Over the last few years Giscours has been one of the most improved properties in the Médoc. The 2022 is another step in that direction. Sublime.” Antonio Galloni
“With the 2022 Giscours, this estate takes another step up.” William Kelley
Giscours is perhaps the estate that has made the most progress from a quality point of view in the past decade, and the 2022 release is a testament to that.
Today we are pleased to offer Chateau L’If released at GBP 1596 per 12.
L’If is the property bought by Jacques Thienpont of Le Pin in 2010. L’If roughly translates as the Yew tree, through the hard work of Jacques and his team has undergone quite a transformation in the past few years.
Tasting this with Jacques (alongside Le Pin) during the en primeur week, Jacques smiled, saying “this is the best L’If that we have produced so far”. This wonderful limestone terroir of St Emilion has now reached its stride now the team have completed their first decade of vineyard development and restructuring with 4ha now replanted out of a total 8ha.
“This might be the finest vintage I've tasted” Jeb Dunnuck
“This remains one of the new stars of St. Emilion, and is a wine to follow before prices jump.” Jeff Leve
With the vineyard split into 14 plots, most of the vineyard is located next to Troplong-Mondot with further plots near Lassegue and even further up the plateau. In the drought conditions of the 2022 vintage, the limestone soils helped to preserve energy and freshness in the wine. The blend this year is 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Franc and aged in 50% new oak. Truly an exceptional effort from Jacques and his team!