Château Croizet-Bages 2015

Balanced, smooth, fruity, thoroughly delightful.

A touch trim, but fresh, with a mix of red currant and pomegranate fruit laced with singed cedar and iron notes. The cedary edge impinges a touch through the finish. Best from 2020 through 2028. 6,667 cases made.

Ruby red in colour with raspberry and blackberry fruits on the attack and an attractively autumnal feel. 2016 is the vintage to look for from Croizet Bages in recent years to truly see the potential for the estate, but this is charmingly unfussy in feel and has plenty of Pauillac character. 50% new oak.

Dark berries and rich, dark, spicy oak make for an impressive nose leading to a medium- to full-bodied palate that is packed with cinnamon, dark berries and mocha. Drink this from 2022.

The 2015 Croizet-Bages comes across as rather rustic and chunky, which is a shame, especially in a vintage with so many sumptuous wines. The game, smoke, licorice, leather and tobacco flavors could use a bit more finesse, focus and overall depth.

A bouquet of plums, cassis, earth and tobacco, medium-bodied, with a rusticity in the tannins that shows in the ending notes. 85 - 87 pts

Dark ruby garnet, purple reflections, delicate rim brightening. Delicate liquorice, black cherries, subtle wood savouriness. Medium body, dark berry fruit, vivid, somewhat over-extracted tannins, dark nougat on the finish, needs its time.

From an up-and-coming estate, the 2015 Château Croizet-Bages is an impressive, solid, classic Pauillac offering lots of leafy herbs, tobacco leaf, toasty oak and assorted dark fruits. With medium to full-bodied richness, solid mid-palate concentration, and notable tannin, it’s going to benefit from 3-4 years of bottle age and last for over a decade.

Dark garnet, fairly dense in the middle, ruby rim. Cherry-like bouquet, linden wood and Dominican tobacco. On the sinewy palate, part of the fruit tastes candy-like, while another part is not fully ripe, conveying a plum-skin note; flat finish.

Herbs, restrained bouquet, cassis, wood. Rustic, dry palate with a firm core structure, light fruit, sandy tannins, medium aromatics, dry finish. 16/20 2022 - 2034

With 73% Cabernet Sauvignon and 27% Merlot, the Croizet-Bages 2015 is medium to deep garnet in color. It soars with open-knit notes of smoked meats, tilled soil, and aniseed over a core of baked plums, boysenberry preserves, and mocha. Medium-bodied, the palate is completely filled with vibrant flavors of blackberry preserves, with loads of licorice and spice layers, supported by velvety tannins and finishing long and savory.

Very nice development, a great Havana cigar nose, and in this sample a full and complex expression of this magnificent vintage. Remarkable value for money if all the bottles confirm.

It shows greater density and structure than usual, with a fleshy, pulpy mouthfeel. A wine that is already approachable and indulgent.

Garnet red with violet highlights. Bouquet of good intensity revealing fruity, refreshing notes. Hints of blueberries and blackberries. Fruity, juicy attack. On the palate, the wine shows good structure and rustic tannins. A wine that needs time to soften and that clearly reflects the power of Pauillac.

Dark color, medium intensity, and slightly evolved. Moderately intense nose, fruity and discreet. Fruity palate, pleasant, flavorful, but light.

This wine is tough and extracted, with dark-chocolate flavors as well as tannins. Its hard outer shell is rescued by the ripe black-currant fruits of the Cabernet Sauvignon in the blend. Drink from 2025.