2021 Ch Chasse Spleen, Moulis

Medium-deep crimson. Fragrant raspberry redcurrant toasty vanilla – hint crème brûlée aromas. Oak dominant wine with toasty vanilla toffee raspberry flavours, pronounced leafy textures and underlying mineral notes. Brambly dry finish. 53% cabernet sauvignon, 38% merlot, 9% petit verdot. 18 months in 40% new French oak. 13% alc

88-89 points Andrew Caillard MW

Aromatic on the nose - rose petals. This has a juicy, bright core, that gentle succulence where your mouth instantly waters from the acidity but you also get a mouthful of summer berry fruit at the same time. I like this a lot, the fruit feels well worked and delivered with poise and energy and the chalky and salty tannins provide just the right grip on the palate. It's not the most expansive right now but feels classy with hints of glamour and I love the mentholated, liquorice touch at the end.

Drinking Window 2025 - 2033

91 points Georgie Hindle decanter.com

Cheerful fruit, this is ruby in colour with violet reflections, inviting juice-filled fruits that hold the acidities on the right sidd of tart. well polished and hadled, carefully extracted, good quality. 33hl/h yield, 40% new oak. Tasted twice.

88 points Jane Anson janeanson.com

A strong effort, the 2021 Chasse-Spleen exhibits aromas of sweet berries and plums mingled with pipe tobacco, loamy soil, rose petals and pencil shavings. Medium to full-bodied, supple and seamless, it's lively and refined, with ripe tannins and a penetrating, saline finish. It's a blend of 63% Cabernet Sauvignon, 28% Merlot and 9% Petit Verdot, and only 55% of the estate's production went into the grand vin.

When the Villars family acquired Chasse-Spleen in 1976, it amounted to less than 50 hectares, but since then expansion has followed, bringing the total area under vine up to 103 hectares. The historic core of the estate is located on a gravel "croupe" around the château, adjacent to Poujeaux, and Chasse-Spleen also owns extensive holdings on a second gravel croupe, further inland, and clay-limestone soils near Château Clarke in neighboring Listrac. The vineyards are planted at 10,000 vines per hectare, soils are cultivated mechanically and increasing attention is paid to harvesting parcel by parcel at optimal maturity. The Boissenot family have consulted here since 1974. Long one of the Médoc's benchmarks among non-classified growths, recent vintages show that Chasse-Spleen is on form, producing serious, age-worthy wines that have long delighted Bordeaux purists.

89-91 points William Kelley robertparker.com

The 2021 Chasse Spleen offers light cedar and tobacco scented red fruit that needs to muster more vigour. The palate is medium bodied with supple tenants and nicely balanced but compared to recent vintages it's just a bit one dimensional on the finish hence my more parsimonious score.

87-89 points AG vinous.com

Medium-bodied with chewy tannins and an array of spiced-fruit, hazelnut and cocoa notes. Pleasant, savory finish. From organically grown grapes.

90-91 points jamessuckling.com