Château Giscours 2022 Margaux 3e Grand Cru Classé

James Suckling
97-98/100 punten
This is a big move forward for Giscours. Full-bodied yet agile and fresh with tannins that are precise and integrated, with great beauty and length. Well-structured and vivid. Extremely fine yet defined tannins, and then it opens like a butterfly.

Robert Parker Wine Advocate
94-96+/100 punten
With the 2022 Giscours, this estate takes another step up, delivering a deep and characterful wine redolent of cherries, dark berries, violets, peony and forest floor. Medium to full-bodied, broad shouldered and layered, it's deep and elegantly muscular, with impressive concentration, abundant but refined tannins and a structural authority reminiscent of the great Giscours vintages of the 1970s. Why is it so good? There are many reasons, but one is the high proportion of old vines—almost 60% of the blend deriving from vines that are over 50 years old—in a vintage that favored vines with deep, well-established root systems. Another is the increasing precision of harvesting at this address: Giscours's old vines are frequently co-planted with younger replacements that have filled any gaps in the ranks over the years; so, blocks are now picked in two or three passages instead of all at once, with the younger vines picked first.

Decanter
96/100 punten
A seriously impressive and beguiling Giscours in 2022 and one of the most elegant. A remarkable wine with gorgeous clarity and purity and just the most gentle seduction, even more so because it really doesn't feel as if it's trying too hard yet still delivering depth and complexity. Fresh and lifted, fragrant and so juicy but with textured tannins that give both the weight, structure and density to the quite bright, tangy, vibrant fruit. Nicely composed, feels quite powerful yet restrained and finessed offering lots of immediate drinking appeal but with a serious backbone that suggests long ageing too. Elegant, fineseed, subtle confidence with such cool minerality that gives freshness all the way through. It's not the most dense, or fleshy, but so refined. A compelling wine. Possible upscore in bottle.

Neal Martin (Vinous)
(95-97)/100 punten
The 2022 Giscours [...] has a delightful and sensual bouquet with lifted, violet and peony-scented blueberry and black cherry fruit. This is very well-defined and perhaps the purest I have encountered from barrel. The palate is medium-bodied with a disarming silky texture, harmonious and focused. It’s mineral-driven with a poised and pixelated finish. Certainly, this represents one of the best wines of this Margaux estate in recent years, echoing their golden period of the 60s and early 70s. Tasted twice with consistent notes.

Jeff Leve (The Wine Cellar Insider)
(95-97)/100 punten
Violets, roses and lilies merge with its array of spices, black cherries, black plums and black raspberries on the nose. Silky, fresh, and focused on its tannins. The wine focuses on its structure, balance, and refinement. Supple, and creamy, the finish displays its richness, ripe, deep fruits and energy in every lingering sip. The wine is a blend of 64% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc and 3% Petit Verdot, 13.6% ABV, pH 3.75. Harvesting took place September 1 to September 29. Yields were 27 hectoliters per hectare.

Jeb Dunnuck
(94-96)/100 punten
Clearly one of the finest vintages from this château, the 2022 Château Giscours reveals a dense purple hue to go with beautiful Cabernet-driven aromatics of smoky blue fruits, iron, lead pencil, and spring flowers, as well as an almost marine-like character developing with time in the glass. Medium to full-bodied on the palate, it has silky, perfectly integrated tannins, a great mid-palate, and outstanding length. It's a serious, age-worthy, incredibly impressive wine in the making.

Falstaff
96/100 punten
Deep dark ruby in colour with an opaque core, purple reflections, and subtle brightening on the rim. On the nose, delicate tobacco aromas combine with fine herbal spices, hints of cassis and cherry, mineral notes, and a touch of crystallised violets in the background. The full-bodied palate is elegant with integrated, sleek tannins, fresh and persistent with notes of black cherry, blackberry and a delicate sweetness on the finish. The wine shows the full potential of the Giscours terroir.

The Wine Independent (Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW)
(94-96)/100 punten
A blend of 64% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 3% Petit Verdot, and 3% Cabernet Franc, the 2022 Giscours has a pH of 3.7 and 13.6% alcohol. It has a deep garnet-purple color and bursts with notes of baked black plums, warm cassis, and blackberry preserves, giving way to subtle suggestions of sassafras, roses, and Sichuan pepper. The delicately played medium-bodied palate is soft-spoken and refreshing, featured very fine, silt-like tannins and seamless freshness to frame the subtle red and black berry layers, finishing on a mineral note. If you love blockbusters, look elsewhere, this is all about grace. Note that no second wine (La Sirène de Giscours) was made in 2022 and the yield for Giscours was just 27 hl/ha.

Jane Anson (Inside Bordeaux)
95/100 punten
Well judged and executed, with the vintage character coming through with the rich plum, cassis and fresh fig fruits, alongside black pepper and clove spices, but overall the feel is savoury, with austere tannins that are clearly revving up and have plenty of character. Impressive lift also, with juice running right through the palate, giving breath to the concentrated muscular tannic frame. Austerity also at this point, relatively rare and welcome in 2022, and emphasising a floral and smoky curl on the finish. 50% new oak. Entire harvest in the Grand Vin for the first time ever at Giscours (although I assume there must have been some of the production that was not bottled under the label). Axel Marchal consultant, Alexander Van Beek director.