2025 Château Giscours, Margaux

The 2025 Giscours was picked at around 31 hl/ha, just above the average for the Margaux appellation, and matured in around 50% new oak for a planned 16 or 17 months from nine cooperages. This has a quintessential Margaux nose, floral in style, violets and iris flower that infuse the quite lush but well defined mixture of black and blueberry fruit. The oak is very well integrated here. The palate is medium-bodied with velvety tannins on the entry matched by a keen thread of acidity. There is a touch of graphite on the back palate, a pleasing crescendo that leads to quite a structured and saline finish. This is one of the finest Giscours in recent years but it will deserve five or six years in bottle to show its mettle and it may well settle at the top of my banded score. 13.3% alcohol.

Excellent depth on the aromatics here, plenty of energy, plum and cassis bud, savoury with edge, great depths to the fruit, cocoa bean and incense adds a gourmet smile and a slow build, with oak adding structure and weight. Such good work being done at Giscours over the last few years, with director Alexander van Beek on a roll. Not easy when you've been heading up an estate for so long to make such a transformation but there is undoubtedly a sense of renewal at this estate right now, and this is one to watch. Tasted twice.

The 2025 Giscours is another brilliant wine from this resurgent property, unwinding in the glass with aromas of wild berries, violets, rose petals and pencil shavings. Medium- to full-bodied, deep and perfumed, it's suave and seamless, with ultra-refined tannins, vibrant acids and a long, perfumed finish. This classy and precise blend of 64% Cabernet Sauvignon, 31% Merlot and 5% Cabernet Franc was produced in Giscour's functional temporary winery, which makes temperature control easier than in the estate's old facilities.

Another magnificent wine for a château that has made giant steps. Plush and succulent; pure and total sensuality. Dark red-toned fruit, pomegranate, spice, new leather, incense and dried flowers all race across the palate. Remarkable purity of flavors. Tasted two times.