2022, Château Durfort Vivens, MARGAUX 2ème Grand Cru Classé

Bordeaux Blend: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot

2nd growth Margaux owned by Gonzague Lurton, owner also of Acaibo in Sonoma. A blend of 84% Cabernet Sauvignon and 16% Merlot in 2022.

Great balance, this has the spice and exoticism of the vintage, with pomegranate, cardamom and turmeric spice, along with creamy cappuccino and damson fruits. Feels effortless and balanced, step by step building in juice, enjoyment and pleasure. It's ripe and concentrated, with the structure for long ageing. 95 Jane Anson.

The 2022 Durfort Vivens is a lovely wine that wafts from the glass with aromas of minty dark berries, sweet plums, licorice and burning embers. Medium to full-bodied, velvety and layered, it's rich and concentrated, with a deep and lively core of fruit framed by sweet, powdery tannins. 93-96 William Kelley, Wine Advocate.

Lovely freshness and aromatic complexity on the nose; herbs, spices, flowers, bitterness, freshness. Juicy and alive, a brightness and liveliness straight away. The energy here is wonderful, so lean and clean, pure and precise, very pretty, fun and joyful with a salty tang underneath. Delicate almost with such well integrated tannins giving a soft push from start to finish. Really very compelling and drinkable, easy to approach with layers of freshness and the most gorgeous acidity. Not as dense or fleshy as others, but makes up for it in bite, energy and enjoyable minerality. Effortless winemaking. 96 Georgina Hindle, Decanter.

The 2022 Durfort-Vivens is a wild, exotic wine that very much shows the natural opulence of the year. Super-ripe dark red/purplish fruit, pomegranate and sweet spice are front and centre. There’s a bit more Merlot in this year’s blend, and that seems to come through in the wine’s overall fruit intensity. The final blend is projected to be 70% new oak and 30% amphora, but the sample I tasted was only taken from oak components, as the wine had only been racked into amphora shortly prior to this tasting. 92-94 Antonio Galloni, Vinous.

Drinking Window: 2030 - 2052