The al dente fruit is so attractive with blackcurrants, dark plums and orange peel. The palate is medium- to full-bodied with tannins that start slowly, building at the end to a crescendo of intensity and power. It's muscular and chewy but not overdone. A great second wine of Pichon Lalande. Needs time to soften and come together.

The 2022 Reserve de la Comtesse Is a sexy wine. Plush contours wrap around a core of black cherry, plum, graphite and dried flowers. The 2022 is unusual in that it includes all the Petit Verdot produced at the property. That's a decision that paid off handsomely.

Readers shouldn't overlook the 2022 Reserve de la Comtesse, a lovely wine that's one of the most accomplished second wines of Bordeaux. Offering up aromas of sweet minty berries, burning embers, pencil shavings and violets, it's medium to full-bodied, lavish and aromatic, with an almost exotic core of fruit, powdery tannins and a penetrating finish.

Laden with warmed cassis and dark plum notes, this moves slowly as bittersweet cocoa, espresso crema and dark tobacco accents fill in along the way. Cedar and savory hints add range and cut to the finish, and there's ample latent depth. A touch old school and can handle some cellaring. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc.