Château Meyney Château Meyney Saint-Estèphe 2022 750ml

This always represents good value. Spicy, stony and floral at the same time with deep blue fruit and hints of pine, incense and cloves. Veins of tannins show a mineral verve. This is firm, powerful and long. A bit too young at this stage but already showing potential. A very good vintage. Drink after 2028.

While I wasn't able to taste the 2022 Château Meyney En Primeur, it's a beauty now from bottle. Needing air to show at its best, this deep purple-hued Saint-Estèphe has a ripe, powerful nose of darker currants, chocolate, smoked tobacco, and cedar pencils. This carries to a full-bodied Meyney that has a broad, layered mouthfeel, ripe, velvety tannins, beautiful overall balance, and a great finish. It's accessible even today with a decant, but it's going to take a decade to hit maturity and will age gracefully on its concentration and depth.

The 2023 Meyney is every bit as convincing as it was en primeur. Dark and quite savory, the 2023 has a lot to offer. Gravel, incense, tobacco, licorice, dried herbs, chocolate and pressed lavender infuse this mid-weight Saint-Estèphe with a good deal of character. Beams of tannin shape the insistent, driving finish.

Always a classic Saint-Estèphe (and I think the quality here has stepped up a notch recently), the 2023 Château Meyney comes from a mix of gravelly and clay soils and is based on 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 38% Merlot, and 12% Petit Verdot, aged 18 months in French oak barrels. It sports a deep purple hue as well as beautiful cassis, graphite, smoky tobacco, and crushed stone-like minerality. Medium-bodied on the palate, it has a pure, focused, layered mouthfeel, ripe, polished tannins, and a great finish. It's beautifully done and is going to evolve nicely over the coming 25-30 years if well stored. Drink 2029-2053.

The 2022 Meyney has turned out very well, offering up aromas of crème de cassis, bay leaf and pencil shavings, followed by a medium to full-bodied, supple and fleshy palate that's rich and seamless, exhibiting an integration of tannin that can't always be taken for granted at this address. In fact, this appears to be the best Meyney produced for quite some time, and it's well worth seeking out.

The 2022 Meyney was picked from 14 September to 5 October at 37hL/ha. This has a really lovely nose with layers of red fruit interlaced with loamy pencil lead aromas, focused and very well-defined. The palate is medium-bodied with a structured opening. A "solid" Saint-Estephe, quite taut and linear. One sample lacked a bit of vigor on the finish, so called for another, which displays far more precision and energy. This is what my assessment is based upon.

Opening in the glass with aromas of sweet dark berries, licorice and petals, the 2022 Meyney is medium to full-bodied, deep and concentrated, with a fleshy core of fruit girdled by sweet but firm tannins. Pure and taut, it is a strong effort that will require a bit of patience. 91-93 points. (William Kelley)

The 2022 Meyney is very exotic in this vintage. Super-ripe red cherry, kirsch, orange peel, mint, sweet spice and rose petal give the 2022 striking inner perfume. I can't remember tasting a Meyney quite like this. 90-92 points. (Antonio Galloni)