Château Berliquet, Grand Cru Classé, St Emilion, 2023
We've finally had our Berliquet epiphany. The 2023 is the first vintage made at the new winery, which allows for plot by plot vinifications. There's certainly a lot more precision in the 2023, better clarity to the fruit and a much-enhanced tannic profile. This feels like it hails from a top-class limestone terroir. Still a little burlier than Canon but much more refined than usual. There's a juicy core of dark fruit, which is contained and focussed. Hints of chalky minerality mix with notes of floral fruit. Although dark and somewhat brooding this Berliquet finishes with fine, refreshing, salty tannins, which are both sophisticated and ripe. Bravo.
critic reviews
The 2023 Berliquet, replicating its showing from barrel, is initially reticent on the nose. It opens with blackberry, cedar and light marine notes, verging on oyster shell aromas. The palate is medium-bodied with a keen line of acidity that cuts through the spicy black fruit. More vigor comes through on the structured second half with a pleasingly persistent, sapid finish. One to watch...
A blend of 59% Merlot and 41% Cabernet Franc, the 2023 Berliquet has a pH of 3.53 and it is ageing in 10% amphorae and 90% oak barriques, of which 34% are new. It has a deep garnet-purple color and it hops from the glass with fragrant notes of wild blueberries, plum preserves, and kirsch, followed by hints of lilacs, fragrant soil, and cardamom. The medium-bodied palate is bright and energetic, with intense red and black berry layers and super-silky tannins, finishing with wonderful length and tension.
Heavy black pepper spice, good lift through the palate, powerful drive and energy, with sculpted blue and black fruits and a pumice stone scrape. Harvest September 13 to October 5, 45hl/ha yield. 45hl/ha yield, in organic conversion. Tasted twice.
The 2023 Berliquet is the first vintage produced in the estate's new winery, equipped with double the number of vats, permitting proper separation of blocks. That's especially important, as Berliquet is a more diverse terroir than Canon, and it can now be interpreted with much more precision. Offering up aromas of cherries, black raspberries, licorice and violets, it's medium to full-bodied, pillowy and layered, with a fleshy core of concentrated fruit, refined, chalky tannins and lively acids.