Chateau Lalande Borie 2015

"Dark berries with chocolate and lightly toasted oak on the nose. Opens to a full body with silky tannins and a focused and fine finish. Shows tension and beauty. Drink or hold."

"A dense wine with great fruit, this has a velvet texture and great elegance. There is structure of course from the firm tannins that stay in the background, while the main thrust of this wine is its great blackberry fruit. It will age and should be drunk from 2025."

"The 2015 Lalande-Borie is a blend of 45% Cabernet Sauvignon and 55% Merlot. Picked from 26 September until 2-3 October, it has a surprising bouquet: high-toned and exotic for the vintage, very intense cassis and iodine aromas, perhaps needing just a little more complexity to come through, though I am sure it will by the time of bottling. The palate is more controlled at the moment, restores order as it were. The tannins are quite dense, lending weight to this Lalande-Borie, the acidity is nicely judged, and the finesse finally comes through towards the finish. Barrel Sample: 89-91"

"The 2015 Château Lalande-Borie is more perfumed and extroverted compared to the 2016 and gives up lots of ripe black cherry and strawberry fruit characteristics as well as more graphite, spring flowers, earthy minerality and toasted oak. Textured, medium-bodied, elegant and seamless on the palate, it shines more for its elegance and nuance than power. Drink it anytime over the coming 15-20 years."