Château de Fieuzal 2014

Ripe, fleshy and fun, with lots of friendly blackberry, boysenberry and raspberry preserve notes gliding through, structured by refined tannins and backed by light tar, anise and black tea details. Best from 2018 through 2024. 665 cases made.

Closed black cherry aroma, not generous now but there is subdued power and tannic hold. House style is evident: firm and big, less lift than other Pessac estates, but the dark, bristling fruit is obvious and there is excellent potential for ageing.

The complex savory, herbal and earthy nose leads into a medium-bodied wine with real concentration and a nice freshness on the finish, where there are serious but well-integrated tannins. Drink in 2020.

Black cherry in a simple but balanced and ripe style. Very clean and precise. Rounded, fresh, easygoing and ready to drink now. (RH)

The 2014 de Fieuzal is a bold, racy wine. Sweet red cherry, iron, smoke and tobacco give the wine its distinctive flavor profile. The tannins have softened quite a bit over the last 18 months, which has allowed the fruit to show lovely succulence and creaminess. Drink this juicy Pessac-Leognan now and over the next handful of years. There is plenty to like in this expressive sleeper wine for the vintage. Tasted two times.

This medium-bodied wine is filled with smoldering red and black fruit, slightly tinged with the essence of tobacco. 89-90 Pts

Medium ruby, purple at the core, ruby rim. Roasted bouquet, heavily marked by oak, hard to gauge because on the nose you get almost nothing but toastiness; accordingly, the wine is very woody. On the palate, brutally extracted, more muscle than flesh, and in this state the wine feels quite hard. The winemaking is not at all adapted to the vintage. Less would be (far) more! 15: Three months before bottling at the estate. Clearly toasty; on the nose it could be a bit of anything. On the palate, gritty. Showing better now but it simply feels too hard in body.

Silky, finely vegetal and peppery bouquet, plum, mocha, fresh bread, green herbs, vanilla. Elegant, fresh palate with fine tannins, powerful aromatics, good fruit, long, bitter finish. 17/20 2020 - 2034

Medium to deep garnet-brick in color, the 2014 de Fieuzal Rouge sashays out with gregarious notes of kirsch and raspberry preserves followed by hints of rosebud tea, dried lavender, and fallen leaves. The medium-bodied palate is lively and refreshing, with lightly chewy tannins and a lifted finish. Tasted blind with the Southwold Group in London in February 2024.

Some samples are dominated by the influence of oak, but others reveal a deep, expansive wine with truly sap-rich concentration.

Round palate, clean attack, sappy, broad, silky tannins, saline finish.

Dark, intense, and beautiful color. Fruity nose. A smooth palate, very fruity, tasty, fleshy, and slender, finishing a touch lively on the persistence. Normal length.

Ripe and fruity, the wine is a great success. It has juicy berry fruits that are underpinned by the firm tannins and mineral structure. It is full while also crisp: a wine that is deliciously perfumed. Drink from 2024.