Croix De Labrie 2020 (750ML)

98 JS / 97+ JD / 96 WCI / 95 FS / 94 VM / 94 JA / 93-95 WA / 16.5++ JR

#35 James Suckling's Top 100 Wines of France 2023
#56 James Suckling's Top 100 Wines of 2023

This is a glorious 2020 with such pure fruit of currants and blackberries, as well as dark chocolate. It’s full and layered and opens in the glass to a lovely layer of fine, velvety tannins that are bright and citrusy. Crunchy. It really opens and shows so many layers. Spectacular. Drink after 2027. - James Suckling

The Grand Vin 2020 Château Croix De Labrie is brilliant and the finest wine I've tasted from this estate. Dense purple-hued, with a liqueur of limestone-like minerality intermixed with ripe black cherries, boysenberry, spring flowers, and graphite, it's full-bodied, has a wealth of fruit and texture, sweet tannins, and remarkable purity. Its oak is perfectly integrated, and it brings richness as well as an incredible sense of precision and purity. This brilliant Saint-Emilion will be drinkable in just 3-4 years and will evolve for two decades. Tasted twice with consistent notes. - Jeb Dunnuck

Deeply colored, almost opaque in color, the wine opens with a blast of chocolate, black cherry liqueur, blueberries, licorice, espresso and licorice. But as good as the nose is, the palate is the star of the show. Corpulent, lush and polished, the wine coats your palate, yet, it manages to retain lift, balance and freshness, finishing with layers of opulent, perfectly ripe fruits that linger. You can enjoy this young, or age it for more complexity, Drink from 2024-2045-Jeff Leve, Wine Cellar Insider

Deep dark ruby ​​garnet, violet reflections, delicate edge brightening. A touch of suede, balsamic nuances of precious wood, licorice, black wild berries, tobacco nuances. Powerful, juicy, elegant, fine fruit sweetness, ripe tannins, some nougat on the finish, has good freshness, a charming giant with good aging potential.-Peter Moser, Falstaff

The 2020 Croix de Labrie is rich, sumptuous and a real head-turner. Jammy dark fruit, blood orange, mint, cinnamon, sweet oak and mocha are all amplified. Plush, silky tannins wrap it all together beautifully. The 2020 is opulent and flamboyant, but also remains light on its feet, showing impeccable balance and tons of class. - Antonio Galloni, Vinous Media

The precision and the floral character rises steadily from start to finish, off-setting perfectly the succulent and opulent fruit, with its creamy black damson and cherry focus. The density and concentration of the vintage comes through with a ton of cocoa bean, espresso and dried herbs. 90% new oak (first year where owners Pierre and Axelle Courdurié have reduced this down), 10% one year old, and two 500l oak casks. Michel Rolland consultant, with Hubert de Boüard, certified organic. - Jane Anson, Inside Bordeaux

Deep purple-black in color, the 2020 Croix de Labrie wafts out of the glass with flamboyant notions of sandalwood, red roses, ground cloves and cedar chest, giving way to a core of stewed black plums, Morello cherries and boysenberries, plus a waft of bouquet garni. The medium to full-bodied palate has a rock-solid backbone of firm, ripe, rounded tannins and plenty of freshness, nicely framing the muscular black fruits, finishing long and spicy. Axelle and Pierre Courdurié's 50-year-old, 3.79-hectare vineyard consists of a mix of clay and limestone soils, a portion of which are in Saint-Christophe-des-Bardes and another portion of which are located at the foot of the Pavie slope in Saint-Émilion. - Lisa Perrotti-Brown, Wine Advocate