2013 Giscours

Silky and finessed, with fine tannins, easy to drink with an emphasis on raspberry and bilberry fruits, soft on the finish with grilled earth and rasppberry leaf curls. As ever with this challenging vintage, the structure has less concentration than usual, but they have leaned in to the character, and if you drink this soon, over next few years, you will find plenty to love. Denis Dubourdieu consultant, Didier Forêt technical director. Almost half of the usual yield after selection, harvest September 30 to October 15.

Tasted blind. Mid garnet. Fresh dark fruit, nicely aromatic, some tea leaf. Juicy and finely textured. Very nice balance and elegant. Scented to the end. (JH)

Tasted at the Château Giscours vertical, the 2013 Château Giscours is conspicuously lighter in color than either the 2012 or 2014. Those red cherries and fresh strawberry fruit are intact after bottling, not complex, but clean and fresh, now accompanied by a black olive tincture. The palate is medium-bodied with a pointed, angular opening and it feels a little hollow thereafter. As I (rather glibly) commented in my barrel report, it stumbles over the finish line and that is still the case. It will be an early-drinking Giscours that should be consumed within the first ten years. Tasted June 2015.