(2023) This wine is the precise colour of Rowan Atkinson’s McLaren F1. At first a trace of smoke on the nose, but swirl and swirl and this goes. Just the densest sense of pure violets, coiled power on the nose. Huge. And it’s all underpinned by a slab of pure blackcurrant fruit. Very long on the palate, fine tannins. This is up there with the very best I think. (JH). Tasted en primeur so score is provisional.

(2023) The nose jumps out of the glass, offering ripe black griotte cherry, violets – isn’t this property always the most exotic and black-fruited of its peers? In the mouth, very nice entry and lovely texture. Very fine tannins and acidity keeping it fresh and balanced on the long finish. This is a really fine La Conseillante. (JH). Tasted en primeur so score is provisional.

(2023) There’s a very pure, restrained sense of compact power on the nose. This is so much more refined than most of the samples we’ve tried this campaign. Lighter bodied in the mouth than I expected. This is so harmonious; silken. It almost feels like you could drink it now. This is a wine that whispers rather than shouts – reminds me of the 1985 in that respect. (JH). Tasted en primeur so score is provisional.

(2023) Inky purple-black. A fully stacked nose of iris petals, violets and blue-black fruit. Massive but not forced. This shimmers in the glass. Really fine. So harmonious it’s like a perfectly tuned acoustic guitar – it sings, both in the nose and the mouth (in my memory, typing this later, I hear it!). Nothing out of place. Really exciting to think about what this will become. (JH). Tasted en primeur so score is provisional.

(2023) 13.6% alcohol, 14% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc, 83% Cabernet Sauvignon. There’s a hint of wood on the nose at first, but this goes and it’s then so pure. Loaded with ripe fruit, like the LLC, and it feels like it’s punching at a similar level. Not a hair out of place and impressively low alcohol. (JH). Tasted en primeur so score is provisional.

(2023) The nose reaches up out of the glass and grabs your senses – absolutely gorgeous, there’s no other word for it. A clear step up from its stablemates. Pure blackcurrant dusted with a sense of blue fruits, and that Mouton spice. So exotic. Tons going on… if Leoville Barton is a string quartet, this is a closer to Led Zeppelin. Tasted en primeur so score is provisional. (JH)    

(2023) Inky purple-black with a pure magenta rim. Fantastically polished texture and mouthfeel. At 13.6% alcohol this is apparently the highest ever at Lafite, but the wine doesn’t taste hot. Incredible finish. This will be a superb Lafite which will outlive me certainly. Tasted en primeur so score is provisional. (JH)

(2022) At 22 years of age the 2000 Léoville-Barton appears to still be in its infancy. So serious, concentrated, muscular and deeply-set - just as it was when I last tasted it over a decade ago. The nose has liquorice and leather underpinning a welterweight of black fruit. A little cigar-box background note as well as dried blood, but then, a floral edge flits around too. The palate surges with fruit, keen raspberry edges to deeper and savoury plums and spices. Tannins have eased just enough to give this approachability, though it undoubtedly has decades of potential ahead. The intensity here, the concentration and the effortless balance into a long finish are all glorious.

(2021) Lovely nose, suffused with cassis and ripe black cherry, there's a mocha depth to this too, a little hint of cedary pencil-shaving, a hint of earthiness, but really quite bold fruit. In the mouth classy and classic Bordeaux character, the black fruit very nicely ripe and creamy, but there is structure, a certain firmness to the tannins and suppleness to the acidity, grippy but the sweet fruit dominating the mid-palate. Very complete, very harmonious.

(2018) In Bordeaux, 1985 is my favourite vintage bar none. Yes, '61 may be more legendary, '49 more revered, but I have bought and drunk a lot of '85s over the past 30 years with unfailing success in the wines being both sumptuous and structured, in an immensely pleasurable vintage. This Margaux may be the pinnacle, a heavenly depth of graphite and cedar-touched ripe, but not overripe, black fruits, the lightest nuances of game and vanilla, and just a gorgeous, ethereal Margaux perfume. In the mouth the tannins are now resolved of course, but the fine-grained, supple nature is lovely and the fresh acidity gives this an alert, still energetic character at 33 years of age. Wonderful fruit, again just touched with cedar and game on the palate, but a depth of blackcurrant and edged by black plum and chocolate bittersweet notes. Long, not fading in the glass after an hour, and possibly with substantial time ahead for well-cellared bottles.