2023 Tour St Christophe

Sporting a deep purple/plum hue, the 2023 Château Tour Saint Christophe offers cassis, black cherries, graphite, new leather, and crushed stone on the nose. Coming from a gorgeous hillside, terraced vineyard on the eastern, cooler side of the appellation, it has terrific minerality and is medium-bodied and concentrated on the palate, with a pure, graceful, layered mouthfeel, ultra-fine tannins, and no hard edges. Based on 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Franc and aged 18 months in 25% new French oak with the balance in round wooden vats and neutral barrels, this ultra-classic, serious, limestone-driven Saint-Emilion should be snatched up by savvy readers. It will keep for two decades. There are roughly 7,300 cases produced. Drink 2027-2045.

The 2023 Tour Saint Christophe opens with a strong burst of red/purplish fruit, lavender, chocolate, spice, menthol and licorice. It offers plenty of textural intensity and fruit depth, but it's hard to fully get past angular tannins that lurk beneath. This feels aggressive, especially in its contours. Tasted two times.

The 2023 Tour Saint Christophe has a well-defined, dark chocolate-tinged bouquet that is fresh and becomes quite minty with aeration. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannins, quite fleshy on the mid-palate with a nicely controlled, quite tensile finish. This will do nicely.