Currant, red-tea, chili, chocolate and lemon-zest aromas. Chalk and crushed gravel, too. It’s medium-bodied with tight, fine-grained tannins and fresh acidity. Sleek and tight with crunchy berry, mineral and zesty notes on the finish. Complex. Pretty center palate to this. Extremely polished. Try from 2025.

Emerging from a beautiful, terraced vineyard on the eastern side of Saint-Emilion, the 2018 Château Tour Saint Christophe is based on 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Franc that was brought up in 40% new French oak. Its vivid purple color is followed by a great nose of blackcurrants, blueberries, tobacco leaf, chocolate, violets, and chocolate. Hitting the palate with medium to full-bodied richness, it has this wonderful sense of purity and elegance, a touch of chalky minerality, flawless balance, and a great finish. This beautiful, elegant, seamless Saint-Emilion needs 4-5 years of bottle age but will evolve for 20-25 years. You won't regret having this in the cellar.

The 2018 Tour Saint Christophe represents a new level of elegance, precision and finesse for this estate in Saint-Émilion's Saint-Christophe-des-Bardes district. Silky and exceptionally polished, the 2018 oozes class. Moreover, the heavy extraction and strong torrefaction notes that marked previous vintages of the recent past have been replaced by beautifully precise, vibrant fruit. Tour Saint Christophe is one of best values in Saint-Émilion. I haven't always loved Tour Saint Christoph, but I love the 2018. It's a fabulous effort from Technical Director Jérôme Aguirre and his team. Don't miss it.

In 2012, Hong Kong-based Peter Kwok purchased this vineyard located in Saint-Christophe-des-Bardes. The average age of vines is 30 years old. The wine is aging in 40% new oak barrels, 40% one-year-old and 20% two-year-old barrels and is expected to run 18 months. The blend is 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Franc, with fruit from the Cassevert lieu-dit, and the wine has 14.6% alcohol. Deep purple-black in color, the 2018 Tour Saint-Christophe bursts out of the glass with wonderfully pure blackberry, blueberry and boysenberry scents with an undercurrent of plum preserves, star anise and cinnamon stick with wafts of charcuterie and dried herbs. Full-bodied, the palate is packed with vibrant, juicy black fruits with a ripe, rounded tannin texture and fantastic freshness, finishing savory.