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Tasting notes
Flowers and licorice pop with espresso and ripe cherries in the perfume. Fresh, supple and rich, with ample layers of ripe, red and black fruits, that provide a lusciously textured, polished and plush finish with length and hedonistic pleasures. Under the new owners, the wines here keep improving vintage after vintage. Drink from 2023-2040.
Critic scores
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Jancis Robinson MW
Neal Martin
More reviews and scores
Cassis, black raspberries, tobacco, spicy wood, and beautiful floral notes all emerge from the 2020 Château Ripeau, a seamless, medium to full-bodied beauty with perfectly integrated oak, an elegant, layered mouthfeel, polished tannins, and a great finish. It's up with the finest vintages I've tasted from this estate and does everything right. It's already accessible given its purity and balance, yet I see no reason this shouldn't evolve nicely for a solid two decades.
The 2020 Ripeau has a slight reduction on the nose, but there is real complexity and terroir expression underneath, with sous-bois and light Earl Grey scents. The palate is medium-bodied with pliant tannins, a fine bead of acidity, fresh and slightly savory, almost Pomerol-like on the finish. Bravo!
The 2020 Ripeau is powerful, dense and forbiddingly tannic. There's not much pleasure to be found here.