De Pez 2022 (750ML)

93-95 JD / 94 JA / 94 DE / 92-93 JS / 91-93+ WI / 90-92 WA

From a château that consistently makes it into my personal cellar, the 2022 Château De Pez is terrific, with a floral, perfumed, complex style delivering ample cassis and riper black fruits, notes of chocolate, graphite, and licorice, full-bodied richness, ripe yet building tannins, and a great finish. Tasted on multiple occasions, it's a powerful wine from this team that stays beautifully balanced and elegant. - Jeb Dunnuck

Austerity is your friend in an En Primeur sample as long as there is juice and fruit, and here you have both things in abundance. Brilliant wine, absolutely one to look out for, has steely minerality that offsets the plump fruit character and intense tannic structure, this is concentrated but understated, everthing in proportion. First time on the Place this year, as before it was sold via an exclusivity. First vintage with new cellar also. Tasted twice, this is a buy. 26hl/h yield, half of usual, 50% new oak for ageing. - Jane Anson, Inside Bordeaux

Amazing colour, so dark and deep. Fragrant perfume and earthy notes on the nose, flint, ripe blackcurrant, plum and black cherry, milk and dark chocolate, liquorice, sweet cedar and tobacco. Bright and sleek, so smooth but grippy too, a combination of supple weight but then really quite firm and mineral-laced tannins that give the grip and the angles. Almost sharp but in a razor sharp not sour aspect, so clean, and precise. There’s weight, it's rich, dark and serious no doubt, and not entirely charming right now, it's full of muscle but also has juicy acidity and a mouthwatering mid palate. A nice buy with ageing potential and the sweet, sharp hit at the end just makes you think this is going to be great! 3.8pH. 1% Petit Verdot completes the blend. A yield of 26hl/ha. Tasted twice. - Georgina Hindle, Decanter

Firm and linear red with a vivid and juicy dark-fruited core and fine, polished tannins. Medium-bodied. Mellow finish with some creaminess to it. Hints of crushed stones and walnut at the end. - James Suckling

The 2022 de Pez, a blend of 59% Merlot, 38% Cabernet Sauvignon, 2% Cabernet Franc, and 1% Petit Verdot, is deep garnet-purple in color. Notions of baked black plums, blueberry preserves, and fruitcake jump from the glass, followed by hints of Chinese five spice and potpourri. The full-bodied palate is packed with black fruit preserves layers, supported by firm, rounded tannins and plenty of freshness, finishing long and lifted. It will be aged for 18 months in 50% new oak. pH 3.8. - Lisa Perrotti-Brown, Wine Independent

From an estate that has now been fully restructured and which serves as something of a research and development laboratory for its sibling, Pichon Lalande, the 2022 de Pez exhibits aromas of sweet blackberries and cherries mingled with spices and violets. Medium to full-bodied, rich and lively, with powdery tannins that assert themselves on the youthfully chewy finish, some 40% of the production was lost to hail. For the first time, it will be sold en primeur via the place de Bordeaux. - Willam Kelley, Wine Advocate