2020, Château Plince, AOC POMEROL

Bordeaux Blend: Merlot, Cabernet Franc.

The 2020 Plince has a relatively straightforward nose compared to its fellow Pomerol crus, slightly tertiary black fruit, perhaps a little more herbaceous in style. The palate has a light frame of tannins, drier and a tad more austere in style but with a fresh graphite-tinged finish emanating from the 16% Cabernet Franc. 88 Neal Martin, Vinous. 

The 2020 Plince is a powerful, burly wine. It offers up copious blue/black fruit, cloves, gravel, lavender and liquorice. Readers should expect a bold Pomerol that is more power than finesse. Even so, it's hard not to like this for its deep fruit and generous, embracing personality. A few years in bottle may help soften the tannins, which are pretty imposing at this stage. 91 Antonio Galloni, Vinous. 

Gorgeous perfumed, lovely scented aromatics on the nose, flowers and dark black fruits. Charming and seductive, this has a bounce and plushness to it, definitely a dark streak with some minerality - a metallic tang on the mid-palate that is taking over some of the fruit right now, giving it a bit of a savoury edge - liquorice, cedar, charred, smokey, tobacco and coffee elements the stick out slightly. I love the chewy texture and the mouth-coating tannins but it's the salinity and wood that overpower slightly and turn the focus away from the fruit. 15% alcohol. 90 Georgina Hindle, Decanter. 

Aromas of jammy cherries, berries, rose petals and pencil shavings introduce the 2020 Plince, a medium to full-bodied, fleshy and charming wine with a giving, accessible profile that will render it approachable on release. 90 William Kelley, WIne Advocate.

Drinking Window: 2024 - 2032