This is very perfumed, with mushrooms, berries, and even strawberries. Full and round on the palate with soft tannins and lovely sweet finish. This is very long and balanced, but still needs time. Just starting to open up now, but give it a couple of years.

Good full ruby-red. Perfumed aromas of cassis, violet, shoe polish, tar and smoke. Sweet, ripe and luscious, with earthy underbrush and blackberry flavors lingering impressively on the aftertaste. A very fleshy, ripe Giscours that remains precise and light on its feet thanks to harmonious acidity. Lovely wine.

Tasted at the Chateau Giscours vertical, the 2000 Chateau Giscours is a blend of 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot and 5% Cabernet Franc picked between September 25 and October 7. The bouquet is clearly in a different league to the previous two vintages: red plum, mulberry and cedar aromas that generously waft from the glass. There is something a little more exotic about these aromatics, with hints of stewed apricots in the background. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannin and cedar-infused black fruit with hints of black truffle towards the finish. Perhaps I was a little over-enthusiastic when I last tasted this millennial Margaux, and it seems to lose energy observing it over a ten-minute period, hence my docking a couple of points.

This is a big, powerful, firm wine, with a top layer of ripe, glamorous fruit flavors. Blackcurrant jelly fruits are shot through with ripe acidity and soft tannins. It should develop relatively fast, but then last well.

A touch more advanced than the rest of the pack, with beautiful singed alder and juniper notes starting to lead the way while the core of lightly steeped black currant and fig fruit notes is simmering nicely with subtle charcoal and loam elements. Stylish bay-infused finish.