This is powerful and blows away much of the competition with its depth and layers. This needs you to pull up a chair, take a beat, and let the flavours unroll. There is so much density to the blueberry, bilberry and smoked raspberry fruits that they start out knitted down, then as the oxygen opens them up the body of the wine widens and becomes fleshier and creamier, adding chocolate and mocha notes. The limestone scrape is there in spades through the finish, and this is a cleverly constructed wine. As ever Ausone is just a masterclass in how to take apart and then put back together a terroir. Great stuff. First year of official conversion to organic farming. 100% new oak, some in 30hl oak casks. Could go up after tasting in bottle, a potential 100 points. - Jane Anson, Decanter

$713.59 ea. 750ml | OWC of 6 or 12 | Future | BUY NOW

This has a beautifully nuanced yet deep flavour, showing the tight pared-back salinity and juice of limestone alongside fleshy blackberry fruits. There are firm but flexible tannins, it has grip and tension and frankly all the things that you want from a Chapelle, giving a generous hint of what you can expect from Ausone itself. First year of official conversion to organic farming. 3.66pH. 100% new oak. - Jane Anson, Decanter

$173.79 ea. 750ml | OWC of 6 or 12 | Future | BUY NOW

$80.09 ea. 750ml | OWC of 6 or 12 | Future | BUY NOW

Deep purple-hued, the 2020 Château Brane-Cantenac is another remarkable 2020 in the making. Beautiful blackberry and cassis fruits as well as notes of chocolate, lead pencil, and flower all define the nose, and it has the vintage's pure, focused, surprisingly fresh profile while still being concentrated and textured. The balance is spot on and the tannins are polished as well, so it should have some up-front appeal, yet smart money will be on giving this at least 4-6 years of bottle age. - Jeb Dunnuck

$74.98 ea. 750ml | OWC of 6 or 12 | Future | BUY NOW

This is a sinewy, powerful and forward-moving wine with a sense of momentum. Moreish, with the elegance and plump damson fruits that Issan delivers so well, but more muscular than some years with the impact of both Petit Verdot and Malbec that are in the blend for the first time in this vintage. These add layers of spice and the overall architecture is clear. Peony and violet notes add a kick upwards on the finish, this has a delicacy even though it is intense. Less Cabernet in the blend in 2020 than in 2019, as is often the case in the Médoc due to low yields. This new blend in Issan will be seen going forward after the addition of plots from the purchase of Château Pontac-Lynch. - Jane Anson, Decanter

$62.99 ea. 750ml | OWC of 6 or 12 | Future | BUY NOW

This has the physicality of tannins right up front, a clear signature of the vintage, but nothing is heavy or bitter, rather they exert a pressure that gives form and shape to the ripe berry fruits, balanced by mocha, fennel and smoked cocoa bean. Not as joyous as in some vintages of Pensées, but extremely hard to argue with its quality, and the deft, bright finish. Drinking Window 2024 - 2040 - Jane Anson, Decanter

$195.00 ea. 750ml | OWC of 6 or 12 | Future | BUY NOW

This is a wine for those who really love going deep-diving into limestone. It performs the acrobatic, trapeze artist feat of tiptoeing high above the palate with gunsmoke, cool blueberry and redcurrant fruits and flowers curling upwards. Austere and fierce, stretching forward, then softening as it opens, although it takes its time to do so. There is really a feeling that they are doing something different here, thinking deeply about what it means to link wine's sense of a place to its expression in a glass. Brilliant. Harvest September 11 to 19. Drinking Window 2024 - 2038 - Jane Anson, Decanter

$78.50 ea. 750ml | OWC of 6 or 12 | Future | BUY NOW