2022 Petrus

Tasted blind. Fleshy and interesting – so interesting that it’s difficult to spit it. Long and intense (but not overripe) with great integrity and some mineral notes. Youthful. (JR)

The 2022 Pétrus has turned out even better than I anticipated en primeur, displaying breathtaking purity and integration. Unwinding in the glass with aromas of mulberries, minty cherries, rose petals and violets, it's full-bodied, dense and layered, with huge depth at the core, sweet, powdery tannins and a long, resonant finish. This is a profound Pétrus in the making that exemplifies controlled power. Olivier Berrouet opted to shorten the time in barrel by a couple of months to preserve vibrancy.

The 2022 Château Pétrus is a powerhouse as well as one of the most concentrated wines in the vintage. Harvested on September 1 (the earliest harvest since 2003), this deep purple-hued beauty offers an inward yet layered bouquet of ripe black cherries, currants, woodsmoke, chocolate, and truffly earth. This carries to a quintessential Petrus offering full-bodied richness and depth as well as flawless balance. There's no shortage of structure, and it has a dense mid-palate, ripe, building tannins and a gorgeous finish. It gains purity and freshness as it sits in the glass, but this a wine that demands a solid decade, if not more, of bottle age and will be just about immortal.