PRIEURE LICHINE 2022

Plums, sappy flowers, violets, and spicy oak notes all define the 2022 Château Prieuré-Lichine, a ripe, concentrated, medium to full-bodied Margaux. It has solid mid-palate depth, plenty of background oak, and a great finish. While this ripe, textured, wonderfully layered Margaux offers pleasure today, it should have no issues evolving gracefully over the coming 15-20 years. The blend is 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, and 5% Petit Verdot, aged 14 months in barrel.

Dark cherry and blackberry fruit shows a steeped edge, while bramble, warm earth and roasted cedar notes fill in through the ever-so-slightly grainy finish. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Petit Verdot. Best from 2026 through 2032. Tasted twice, with consistent notes. 15,000 cases made.

The 2022 Prieuré-Lichine has a Margaux nose moulded by the warm growing season, exotic and plush, Medjool dates intermixed with black cherries and cassis fruit. A bit heady. The palate is ripe and a little New World in style, plush black plum laced with graphite, rich and heady but just a little overdone and brash towards the finish. Perhaps it will calm down with time? Tasted blind at the Southwold tasting in London.

Such beautiful tannins here that are refined and beautiful and bring you...

Offering up generous amounts of sweet berries, orange rind and licorice, the 2022 Prieuré-Lichine is medium to full-bodied, rich and layered, with a lively core of fruit that's framed by powdery tannins that assert themselves on the youthfully firm finish. This heavily morcellated estate (amounting to some 125 different parcels) continues to benefit from a more rigorous selection and better attention to detail regarding harvest dates.