2015 Château Giscours, Cru Classé Margaux

The 2015 Giscours is a blend of 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot and 5% Petit Verdot. That is in stark comparison to older vintages, for example the 2000 Giscours that was 50/50 Cabernet and Merlot. This vintage is matured in 50% new oak. Winemaker Alexandre Van Beek told me that the 2015 "...reflects the true terroir at Giscours that created the great wines of the 1960s and 1970s." That is something to live up to with fresh memories of the 1961 in my brain. The bouquet is very intense and almost "untamed" at first, but it calms down in the glass, revealing attractive scents of blackberry, raspberry, cedar and graphite. This is a Giscours determined to make a good impression...and it does. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannin, very pure, a little spicier than recent vintages, adorned with a gentle crescendo in the mouth towards a really quite fantastic, tensile, complex and compelling finish. Having tasted the 1961 and 1970 Giscours just a few months ago, I wager that the 2015 will be the best since the 1961. Time to fall back in love with this great Margaux property.

The 2015 Giscours is terrific. In fact, this may be one of the very best recent vintages I have tasted here. Ample and quite broad in its first impression, the 2015 possesses magnificent depth from start to finish. Even with all of its intensity, the 2015 retains striking freshness and delineation. Succulent dark cherry, plum, blood orange and sweet spice notes all flesh out in the glass. Creamy, silky tannins add to the wine's considerable appeal. The purity of the fruit here is striking. The blend is 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot and 5% Petit Verdot, with no Cabernet Franc this year. The 2015 is a terrific Giscours.

Dark crimson. Relatively light nose. Very luscious sweet fruit on the palate - a very winning wine with a medium charge of tannin. Just a little inky on the finish. But good and appetising.

This sets a new level for Giscours with blackberry, black truffle and blackberry. So much walnut and cedar. Full body, dense and incredibly long and powerful. Clearly the best Giscour since 1970 and 1975..