Le Petit Cheval 2023

Freshly zested lemon with grapefruit and orange aromas—so pronounced and really quite crystalline on the nose. At the back, some green apple and white floral elderflower and acacia notes too. Clean and focused, with lovely precision and clarity to the flavours and such a strikingly poised texture. This has grip and zing but also just a touch of buttery softness that adds weight to the body. Threads of nuttiness and wood appear, giving accents and spiced edges. Piercing acidity adds lift and joins layers of confit lemon, baked vanilla pecans, bitter grapefruit, and soft cinnamon spice. Gorgeously complex, and the flavour lasts for ages. It has everything you want from this cuvée, which has found its rhythm. Tasted in a vertical going back to 2018, and this is the most impressive. Director Pierre-Olivier Clouet and cellarmaster Carole André.

A bird of a different feather, this marries a polished feel with the nervy, underlying zip of sel gris and quinine notes, while its core of green almond, star fruit and white peach opens slowly. Shows subtle accents of tarragon and verbena on the finish. Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon. Drink now through 2028. 2,900 cases made.

Exotic fruits, lychee, peach, grapefruit; creamy opening, then tighter through the mid-palate, very vertical, top acidity, fine-boned with great elegance on the finish; long, salty close with a salted preserved lemon note.