2023 Château La Garde, Pessac-Léognan

The 2023 La Garde is the first wine made in the new cellar, part of a strategy that includes a focus on Cabernet Sauvignon on blocks planted on gravel, and a reduction of the Grand Vin by 50%. Deep and imposing in feel, the 2023 offers up a mélange of dark-toned fruit, leather, incense, licorice and scorched earth. The tannins are a bit imposing at this stage.

The 2023 La Garde has a lifted bouquet that is nicely defined, with plenty of blackberry and bilberry fruit and subtle loamy scents percolating through. The palate is medium-bodied with grippy tannins, good body and ample structure, but it delivers more fruit than some of its peers. La Garde has been an improving estate in recent years, and this is another fine wine to add to that roster.

Solid and structured with good volume and length, showing notes of dark fruit and walnuts. Medium-bodied with compact, velvety tannins. The finish is firm and even.

Owned by Maison Dourthe, this estate has strategically chosen to concentrate on cultivating Cabernet Sauvignon grapes on the central plateau, renowned for its gravelly soils. The 2023 La Garde reflects this focus, exhibiting a deep, complex bouquet of dark wild berries, mulberries, flowers and licorice, followed by a medium to full-bodied, tense and layered palate with a structured but elegant mid-palate that segues into a long, mineral finish. This is a blend of 57% Cabernet Sauvignon and 43% Merlot.