Matthew Cohen

9.2

N: white flowers. Hint of gooseberry. Very pretty.

P: very mineral. Sharp Lemon fruit. Some seeet lemon fruit. Some lemon peel.

Planetwine 23.40 — 3 months ago

Freddy R. Troya

9.0

Château La Tour de Bessan Margaux 2022 — Margaux, Bordeaux, France 🇫🇷

Overview
A classic Left Bank blend of 65% Cabernet Sauvignon · 30% Merlot · 5% Petit Verdot (estate typically varies slightly by vintage) delivering structure, elegance, and aromatic finesse. Great frame and graphite tension coming from the Cab Sauv., mid-palate polish thanks to Merlot, and liked how Petit Verdot brings subtle spice and color depth. A beautifully traditional, unclassified Margaux that punches above its weight.

Aromas & Flavors
Black cherry, blackberry, cassis, violet, pencil shavings, cedar, light tobacco, and crushed stone. Fruit stays fresh and pure with delicate floral lift typical of the appellation.

Mouthfeel
Medium-plus body with polished, fine-grained tannins. Dry, linear, and elegant rather than powerful. Balanced acidity keeps everything lifted and graceful with a clean, savory finish.

Food Pairings
Roast chicken with herbs, grilled lamb chops, duck breast, mushroom risotto, lentils, Comté or aged goat cheese. A very food-friendly claret.

Verdict
Proof that Margaux elegance doesn’t require classified growth pricing. Refined, honest, and beautifully composed. Delicious now with air, but easily cellar-worthy for 6–10 years.

🍷 Personal Pick
This is my kind of “weekday Bordeaux”, structured yet graceful, polished without heaviness. The sort of bottle that quietly disappears over dinner because everything just clicks.

Did You Know?
La Tour de Bessan is run by Marie-Laure Lurton (of the Lurton family estates) and is known for crafting textbook, terroir-driven Margaux expressions that emphasize finesse over extraction. — 4 months ago

Brendan Baker

9.2

Wild blackberry, warm earth, mineral, sappy and long ✨ — 9 months ago

Alton Komori

9.3

9.3 with SC GC; light and refreshing, not as sweet as reislings usually are; supposedly only served at The French Laundry. — 3 years ago

Graham

9.1

Went down too fast — 5 years ago

Sam T

9.3

Delicious. Perfect wine for a Happy Thanksgiving! — 6 years ago

Severn G

9.2

Nose has maraschino cherry, sliced pear, wet chalk, mashed raspberry and dry minerals.

Palate has chalky ripe cherry, granite pebbles, fresh blood orange pith, fresh raspberry and light strawberry-raspberry jam. Wow, long finish, we're both smiling a lot on this bottle.

More cherry fruit than most Crémant de Bourgogne rosés we have enjoyed, just amazed! At $32, it's hard to find a better saignee of Pinot Noir brut rosé than what is in this glass, QPR delivered! — 7 years ago

Daniel Bloom

8.9

‘22 must have been very good in parts of Beaujolais. Black fruits with Asian spices and souis bois ,a vaguely dark metallic quality on the nose, tilt the bowl and grapeyness rushes in. Refreshing acidity, not exceptionally long…but enough. Cleansing and and bright. Slightly perfumed on the palate with a lingering umami aftertaste. Pretty stuff.
$31 in Pennsylvania, then here comes a clearance sale, and it was $11!
The LCB in PA. makes no sense, favorably sometimes. — 3 months ago

Graham

9.2

Really nice — 6 months ago

Scott E. Becker

9.3

[Tasted on October 1, 2025 at Home with Jay]

Plum and boysenberry fruit, with tea, sassafras and sandalwood notes. Beautiful wine. — 8 months ago

Ericsson

9.2

This is what I call on point Pinot. Cheers. — 3 years ago

Vanessa

9.4

**If interested, I’ve posted more pics of this visit and trip on my Instagram account - check me out @sips_ensemble**

We also had the pleasure to visit Champagne Paul Bara, another family-owned and -managed winery with only 8 employees! 💪 💪

It is a small but high-quality operation, producing approximately 100,000 bottles per year made exclusively from the free run juice. ✨✨✨ Thanks to the likes of @kermitlynchwine , the U.S. is a major exporting market for this wine. 🙌🙌

Paul Bara’s wines are sustainably farmed on numerous vineyard plots located throughout Bouzy, a Grand Cru village within the Montagne de Reims region of Champagne. 🏔 🏔

Bouzy is known especially for its Pinot Noir-driven Champagnes and also for its still red wines, a specialty of the region, called Coteaux Champenois. 🍇🍇

Paul Bara uses mostly stainless steel vessels for its vinification, designed to accentuate the purity of the fruit. They also use subterranean concrete vessels for the Pinot Noir used in rosé blends and for the Coteaux Champenois (still reds). 🥂

On our tour it was fascinating to see bottles being disgorged, dosaged, corked, capped, and caged on a machine in seconds — these are some of the last stages of the Méthode Champenoise. 🤓

We also learned that Paul Bara is a member of the ‘Club Trésors de Champagne’ an association of 28 vignerons formed to promote quality wine growing and winemaking practices and to highlight the beauty of terroir, demonstrating the excellence achievable outside of the major houses whose names are globally renown such as Veuve Cliquot and Moët & Chandon. 👏

Our favorite wine of the tasting was the 2010 Brut Comtesse Marie de France 🇫🇷 made exclusively from Pinot Noir grapes 🍇 It had a richness and abundance of orchard fruit, including baked yellow apple, also toast, bread dough, yeast, and dried white blossom notes, still offering finesse and precision, retaining incredible vibrancy.

We are grateful for our visit to Paul Bara and we look forward to visiting again the future! 🙏❤️ — 5 years ago

with Deked1

Evan Griffith

9.1

A bit more on the cherry cola rather than just cherry end of the spectrum than I prefer, but nonetheless nice — 7 years ago

Steve Messinger

9.2

Dark ruby, dense black fruit aromas of kirsch and sassafras w a lingering high note of bergamot. Intense black fruit flavors long finish showing a bit of alc — 4 months ago

Dru Margolin

9.0

A touch ripe with some funk. — 4 months ago

Matt Perlman

9.2

Deep blue and violet fruit, dense, mint and spice — 8 months ago

Tom Casagrande

9.3

This Bojo with a bit of bottle age is so nice. Such bright fruit still. Cherries and berries everywhere. And some nice stony minerality. Fantastic balance. — 9 months ago

Charles Garrison

9.2

Lush, succulent Pinot…dark ruby on pour, dark fruits rise out of the glass setting the stage for an enjoyable first sip…no noticeable tannins…lingering finish…this vintage is in a really good place today — 5 years ago

Edward Nelson

9.3

Silky smooth with just enough tannins to make me happy. $125-150? This warrants it. Worthy of a nice occasion or baked mostaccioli on a Wednesday night. — 5 years ago

with Michelle

David Lee

9.0

Dry, savory and vibrant. — 6 years ago