Chateau Labegorce, Margaux 2021

"The 2021 Labégorce is attractive, offering up a perfumed bouquet of cherries, raspberries, orange rind, cedary spices and smoke, followed by a medium-bodied, fleshy palate with a pretty core of fruit, supple tannins and lively acids.

The Wine Advocate 90-91 pts.

The Perrodo family's first acquisition in Margaux was Château Labégorce, acquired in 1989 (and supplemented by the holdings of Labégorce-Zédé from 2004), followed by Marquis d'Anselme in 2006 and Tour de Mons in 2020.

Viticulture is rather forward-thinking, employing organic treatments and phosphonates against disease. Soils see cover crops and much less tilling than was once the case, deleafing is no longer systematic and several parcels are managed without hedging. Where necessary, restructuring is underway, favoring massale selections.

In the winery, technical director Marjolaine de Coninck favors gentle extraction, retaining some whole berries and fermenting at low temperatures; and she racks, settles and returns the must before the start of vinification to remove any dust or other debris from the vineyard (a technique also employed at La Conseillante and Barde-Haut, for example).

The results are pure-fruited and perfumed, with Marquis d'Anselme somewhat more extracted than the suppler wines produced at Labégorce and now Tour de Mons."