Gravette De Certan 2020 (1.5L)

96 JS / 95 WI / 95 JD / 95 VM / 93 WE / 93 WCI / 93 DE / 92 JA / 16 JR

Wow. What a second wine with berries, chocolate, and coffee beans. Black berries. Full and layered with such incredible length and intensity. The real deal. Hard not to drink now but will age beautifully. Try after 2029.-James Suckling

A blend of 85% Merlot and 15% Cabernet Sauvignon, the 2020 La Gravette de Certan is deep garnet-purple in color. It flows effortlessly from the glass with flamboyant notes of juicy black plums, crushed blackberries, and black cherry compote, followed by hints of candied violets, star anise, and dark chocolate. Full-bodied, rich, and concentrated, the palate is wonderfully velvety, with loads of fragrant spice and floral layers and a long, perfumed finish. If this is the second wine, just imagine the Grand Vin!-Lisa Perrotti-Brown, Wine Independent

Based on 85% Merlot and 15% Cabernet Sauvignon, the 2020 La Gravette De Certan offers lots of ripe black cherries, tobacco, leafy herbs, chocolate, and damp earth. Medium to full-bodied, ripe, seamless, and straight-up sexy, it's perfect for drinking over the coming 15 years. If there's a better second wine out there, I don't know of it.-Jeb Dunnuck

The 2020 Gravette de Certan is quite unusual this year in that the blend includes 15% Cabernet Sauvignon, which gives the Gravette a distinctly Left Bank-leaning profile of cassis, graphite, lavender and dried herbs. Pliant and creamy, with notable depth, the Gravette is fabulous, even if it is unlike any Gravette I have tasted before. It’s a stunning, very serious wine that is frankly better than many Grand Vins. A very pretty, exotic, blood orange-like note brightness the finish beautifully. The 2020 is an insanely great Gravette.-Antonio Galloni, Vinous Media

Produced from young vines, this second wine is juicy, perfumed with a dominance of Merlot. Its balance is just right, ripe and juicy, with acidity and structure in all the right places. The black fruits show sweetness as well as richness. Drink the wine from 2026.-Roger Voss, Wine Enthusiast  

Medium-bodied, fresh, vibrant and silky, the wine offers an array of sweet, silky, plums and cherries with a touch of cocoa and bright red pit fruits to come in at the end. You can enjoy this with pleasure while waiting for the Grand Vin to develop. Even better than the 2018, this is a superb vintage of La Gravette de Certan. Drink from 2023-2035.-Jeff Leve, Wine Cellar Insider

Blackcurrant and milk chocolate on the nose, fresh, bright and vibrant with a lovely fragrance. Silky smooth, juicy and clean but dense too, this has weight on the palate with the Cabernet giving it a spiced backbone. Chiseled and expansive with ripe, concentrated red cherries, blueberries and blackcurrants. Immediately quite appealing yet it has a serious edge with liquorice and dark chocolate on the finish. A really complete and satisfying wine that feels well made with lovely Pomerol typicity.-Georgina Hindle, Decanter

Inky plum colour, with tight tannins that really need time to open, great structure, with conentrated cassis and bilberry fruits. Right now this is structure rather than flesh, a serious Gravette that needs another three to four years in bottle, but huge potential for a finessed take on Pomerol 2020. 30hl/h yield, 50% new oak.-Jane Anson, Inside Bordeaux

Tasted blind. Black core. Really sweet-fruited aroma with vanilla sweetness and a touch of leafy freshness. Less sweet on the palate but relatively oaky and charry, the tannins dense but tapering to more finesse on the finish. Fresh aftertaste. -Julia Harding MW, JancisRobinson