Bordeaux 2024: Château La Conseillante and Château L’Evangile

Marielle Cazaux has done a tremendous job with the La Conseillante 2024. This is clearly one of the most refined and seductive wines of the vintage with a generosity and textural quality suggestive of a great Pomerol vintage. Critics such as William Kelley and Antonio Galloni have earmarked this as “one of the wines of the vintage”, an assertion we thoroughly endorse. This is a great La Conseillante

“The 2024 La Conseillante is one of the wines of the vintage this year, wafting from the glass with aromas of raspberries and violets mingled with hints of pipe tobacco, vine smoke and spices. Medium to full-bodied, deep and layered, with beautifully refined, integrated tannins, impressive intensity of flavor and a long, penetrating finish, this suave, sensual Pomerol represents the quintessential Conseillante. It's a blend of 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Franc that produced 22 hectoliters per hectare after extensive sorting.” 94-96/100 – William Kelley, Wine Advocate

“The 2024 La Conseillante is shaping up to be one of the wines of the vintage. Vertical and explosive, with spectacular depth, the 2024 is an eye-opening wine, with regard to both the potential of the property and the vintage. In 2024, La Conseillante separates itself from the pack by a wide margin. It may ultimately not merit the very highest of scores, but it will almost certainly come close. Dark blue fruit, violet, spice, new leather, menthol and licorice stain the palate all the way through the creamy finish. Conseillante is a very serious wine. Technical Director Marielle Cazaux made all the right choices in a very challenging year in which yields were reduced by 50% in the field and then through strict selection in the cellar. Tasted two times. 2034 – 2054” 95-98/100 – Antonio Galloni, vinous.com, April 2025

Conseillante’s next door neighbour, the Domaines Barons de Rothschild owned L’Evangile has also released their 2024. Juliette Couderc, their very talented winemaker has crafted another terrific example from this great Pomerol terroir. It has a slightly less flamboyant character than the extrovert Conseillante, but there’s still plenty lavish, cool, black fruit wrapped in velure textured tannins. Stylish, attractive and controlled; this gets the thumbs up from the J&B team.

“The 2024 L'Évangile was picked from September 18 to October 2. This has a "cool" bouquet with blackberry and bilberry scents and a little marine influence with a hint of oyster shell. The palate is medium-bodied with expressive Cabernet that imparts subtle graphite and tobacco notes. Again, this is fresh, quite structured, not long and perhaps a little tannic on the finish, but it will flesh out during its élevage in 50% new oak.2029 – 2045” 93-95/100 – Neal Martin, vinous.com

“Wow. This is really something for the vintage. Such a long finish, while being subtle and sophisticated with wonderfully silky tannins that are so fine and very long. It's medium-bodied with a beautiful, compact palate from the beginning to the end, including the mid-palate. The finish shows walnut, hazelnut and dark-chocolate character. Exceptional. 80% merlot and 20% cabernet franc.” 98-99/100 – James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com