Marie-Laure Lurton

La Tour de Bessan Cabernet Sauvignon Blend 2022

9.0

Château La Tour de Bessan Margaux 2022 — Margaux, Bordeaux, France 🇫🇷

Overview
A classic Left Bank blend of 65% Cabernet Sauvignon · 30% Merlot · 5% Petit Verdot (estate typically varies slightly by vintage) delivering structure, elegance, and aromatic finesse. Great frame and graphite tension coming from the Cab Sauv., mid-palate polish thanks to Merlot, and liked how Petit Verdot brings subtle spice and color depth. A beautifully traditional, unclassified Margaux that punches above its weight.

Aromas & Flavors
Black cherry, blackberry, cassis, violet, pencil shavings, cedar, light tobacco, and crushed stone. Fruit stays fresh and pure with delicate floral lift typical of the appellation.

Mouthfeel
Medium-plus body with polished, fine-grained tannins. Dry, linear, and elegant rather than powerful. Balanced acidity keeps everything lifted and graceful with a clean, savory finish.

Food Pairings
Roast chicken with herbs, grilled lamb chops, duck breast, mushroom risotto, lentils, Comté or aged goat cheese. A very food-friendly claret.

Verdict
Proof that Margaux elegance doesn’t require classified growth pricing. Refined, honest, and beautifully composed. Delicious now with air, but easily cellar-worthy for 6–10 years.

🍷 Personal Pick
This is my kind of “weekday Bordeaux”, structured yet graceful, polished without heaviness. The sort of bottle that quietly disappears over dinner because everything just clicks.

Did You Know?
La Tour de Bessan is run by Marie-Laure Lurton (of the Lurton family estates) and is known for crafting textbook, terroir-driven Margaux expressions that emphasize finesse over extraction. — 2 days ago

Ted and Bob liked this

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260122 con vero en baravin. Suave, balanceado, un poco picante. Muy buen cierre — 13 days ago

Jean-Marie Reverdy & Fils

La Villaudière Sancerre Sauvignon Blanc 2024

Matthew Cohen

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N: gooseberry

P: gooseberry. Delicious.

Planet wine $22.50 tariff — 4 months ago

De Bortoli

Noble One Botrytis Sémillon 2013

Bob McDonald

9.0

From half bottle. Generally regarded as Australia’s best “sticky “ (dessert style). Colour getting darker (burnished copper). Drank some with plum pudding on Christmas Day and finished it yesterday with Duck Pate and crackers, having returned from a week in Mossman and the Daintree in FNQ. Aromas of Apricot and over ripe pear. A generous mid palate with diminished acid. Time to drink this. Only 10.5% ABV. — a month ago

Andrew, Peter and 18 others liked this

Bob McDonald

@Peter van den Besselaar That’s quite the accolade Peter but I wouldn’t be keeping it for many more years.

Peter van den Besselaar

@Bob McDonald thanks. After tasting 2001 six years ago, I was determined to lay this in the cellar. I bought 2014. Will try this year.

Doug Powers

@Bob McDonald, jealous about your excursion to the Daintree, love that area. There is a tea plantation there that I love called Daintree Tea, volcanic soil, that I’m able to get in California (at one time a SD sales agent, now direct from the estate)!! Thanks for mentioning the Daintree!!