Chateau Malartic Lagraviere Rouge 2022

The layers of tannins are really something in the mouth. They are ultra-fine and spread across the palate. Chewy and structured with intensity and beauty. Traditional and real. Shows promise.

• Review Date: April 2023

The Bonnie family is on a roll at this excellent property. Dense and concentrated but with finesse and acidity, this has a beautiful balance, and a creaminess to the fruit that is superb. Appealing pulses of white pepper and sage spice, well drawn out through the palate, exceptional skill shown during ageing at controlling the oak impact. Yields in the low 30hl/h, but maintains freshness. Vinified in a mix of small wooden casks and stainless steel vats, aged in oak.

• Drinking Window: 2030 - 2048
• Reviewer Name: Jane Anson
• Review Date: May 2023

The 2022 Malartic Lagravière is a pretty sexy wine, its considerable tannins notwithstanding. A blast of dark cherry, plum, licorice, chocolate, new leather and spice makes a strong opening statement. The 2022 is dense and packed to the core, with formidable intensity of fruit and equally imposing tannins. This is a brute.

• Drinking Window: 2028 - 2047
• Reviewer Name: Antonio Galloni
• Review Date: October 2023

This Pessac-Léognan is a blend of 53% Cabernet Sauvignon, 43% Merlot, 2.5% Petit Verdot and 1.5% Cabernet Franc. The nose is rich in sweet and darkly focused fruit, with desiccated dried cherry, coffee bean and red rose petals. It feels completely integrated and fresh at the start of the palate, with an easy-going sense of balance, the substance polished and composed, with a midpalate structure of finely drawn-out tannins wrapping up concentrated currant and dried cherry fruits. A very classy composition, with powdery tobacco oak in the background and running into the finish, where it plays with the tannic grip, all of which will integrate given tine. All in all this brims with classy and understated potential. A wise buy. Tasted twice. The alcohol on the label is 14%.

• Drinking Window: 2027 - 2047
• Reviewer Name: Chris Kissack
• Review Date: May 2023

The 2022 Malartic Lagravière has a graceful and delineated bouquet that shows more precision and nascent vibrancy than most of its peers. It has blackberry, raspberry and light violet petal scents and an underlying marine influence that becomes more vocal with time. The palate is medium-bodied with fine-boned tannins, offering impressive balance. This "cool" Pessac-Léognan has a sapid finish that draws you back for more. It is excellent.

• Drinking Window: 2030 - 2065
• Reviewer Name: Neal Martin
• Review Date: May 2023

A blend of 56% Merlot, 41% Cabernet Sauvignon, 2.5% Petit Verdot and 0.5% Cabernet Franc, the 2022 Malartic Lagravière reveals a classic, elegant bouquet of cassis, mulberries, flowers and spices. Medium to full-bodied and round, it's elegantly juicy with a generously extracted structure leading the way to an assertive, structured tannic frame, concluding with a spicy, long finish. Notably, the blend has shifted since the en primeur tasting, lending the wine a more introverted character.

• Reviewer Name: Yohan Castaing
• Review Date: April 2022