Chateau du Courlat, Lussac-Saint-Emilion

Youthful medium ruby with a darker core. Lifted and fragrant bright red berry nose with darker malty and wooden notes below. Full body with dense but very round tannins which persist from the sweet middle till the finish. Really nicely structured and concentrated for a St. Emilion satellite. I like this very good plus claret better than the left-bank Caronne Ste. Gemme 2010 which has been a cellar defender over summer.

Strong floral nose with notes of flint and a bit of muted dark fruit. Tannins are a bit dusty with moderate grip and moderate levels of acidity. Initial big hint of juicy fruit on the palate. Palate of cherry, cranberries, mulberry, and oak with a hint of minerality. Surprised others rated this so low. This is delicious wine

Dark, rather murky garnet with light legs and a very subdued dark fruit nose. Even after letting it breathe in the bottle for two hours, the wine still seemed rather closed, with a taste dominated by an astringent acid-tannin mouth feel. Not much fruit here. Perhaps already past its prime now during year nine?

I had made private a note on a bottle I had at the end of May, 2023. The wine was dark ruby almost to rim, with a darker core. Malty oak, slightly spicy, lifted ripe dark plum nose. Full body and plenty of that dark plum in the mouth. Though the tannins had softened, they were still rather coarse. No sweetness showing, however. This evening's wine had an appearance much in line with the 5/2023 bottle. Minor oak showed on …

Earthy cherries with a touch of cranberry and spice form the core of this medium-bodied, fresh, soft-textured, early drinking charmer, with a nice hint of chocolate that finds its way into your glass in the endnote. Drink from 2024-2032.

A year to the day when I last tried a bottle, so on 6 January I poured the first part into a demi and decanted the remainder. A medium crimson-ruby colour and just starting to throw a loose crust in the bottle. It starts with floral, gently oaky, malty and damson-plum scents, but the oak is making a fist of it 15 minutes later. But at the half-hour point, the fruit is very fragrant indeed, with a little raspberry and …

Restaurant BTG. Rich black fruit, perhaps ever-so-slightly roasted. Fun and simple, good now. Bottle had been opened the previous day.

Earthy, mushroom, bloomy rind, dark stewed dried fruits Mellow tannins at first but they build, smooth, medium plus acidity, long finish, high alcohol 3.6

Had over 2 days, this time. Dark medium ruby, but still has a broad dark red to crimson core. Mulberry, then malt and cocoa, followed by yeast extract and soy. But then it closes-up and I can't get the shell to open. Medium body, but seems even tighter and more tannic than a year ago. I'm glad I caught it a year ago, otherwise it would have been difficult to now gauge how this wine would in all probability drink …

Hmm, that is a bit roasty toasty on the palate.

Had over 4 days. Medium crimson. A melange of dried fruits, then malty notes from the oak élevage. After one hour on the first day the fruit is showing superbly for a humble Saint-Emilion satellite and grows in intensity. Initially, it seems medium bodied, but gets denser after one hour in the decanter, at which time the ripe tannins begin showing. They get more assertive, as the wine takes on a slight chocolate flavour, before going back into its shell. …