2020 Chateau Beychevelle Saint-Julien

The Grand Vin 2020 Chateau Beychevelle is a tiny selection representing just 55% of the estate's total production. The blend is 51% Cabernet Sauvignon, 45% Merlot, and 4% Petit Verdot, aged 18 months in 70% new French oak, hitting 13.5% natural alcohol. Surpassing both the 2016 and 2018, this inky-hued Saint-Julien offers a round, lush, full-bodied style with gorgeous aromatics of black cherries, blueberries, loamy earth, chocolate, and spring flowers. The vintage doesn't get any sexier, and this has sweet tannins, an opulent mouthfeel, and riveting purity and finesse. ~97 Jeb Dunnuck

The 2020 Beychevelle opens with the most exotic bouquet imaginable. Wildflowers of all sorts, spice, lavender, and inky dark fruit all saturate the palate. As always, Beychevelle is an overt, flamboyant wine, but all of the elements are so well put together. The 2020 is sexy, alluring, and impossible to resist. ~96 Antonio Galloni, Vinous Media

Sweet-berry and tobacco character with blackberries and violets. It's full-bodied with firm, polished tannins and a fresh finish. Very fine at the end. ~94 James Suckling

Smoke and grilled almond on the nose, even a touch of rubber from an edge of reduction. This has depth to black chocolate and bilberry fruit; it is well balanced and seductive. Broad-shouldered but it sits well within the successful run of vintages at Beychevelle. Drinking window 2029–2044. ~94 Decanter

Rich and muscular, the 2020 Beychevelle offers up aromas of cassis, blackberries, and baked plums mingled with spices, pencil shavings, and toasty new oak. Medium to full-bodied, thick and fleshy, with an ample core of fruit framed by powdery, generously extracted tannins. ~93+ Robert Parker's Wine Advocate