The 2016 Deyrem Valentin has a ripe and generous bouquet that calms down in the glass, revealing attractive cranberry and blackcurrant fruit laced with pressed violets and iris. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannin, lovely pure-black fruit with just a hint of graphite. What I love about this Margaux (one of my favorites incidentally) is the disarming precision on the finish. It is simply a beautiful wine whose silky texture will seduce from 100 yards!

Owned by the Sorge family and run by Christelle Sorge, this small estate is in Soussans, just to the north of Margaux. The rich, smoky character of the wine is full of potential. Fine tannins mingle with the black-currant fruit and dusty texture to give a wine that should be ready from 2024.