92-94. Barrel Sample. Owned by the Cazes family of Lynch-Bages in Pauillac, this is a fine wine that continues the backbone of this estate. With its tannins firmly in place, sustaining the black plum skin flavors, the wine has fine medium-term potential.

A blend of 54% Merlot, 38% Cabernet Sauvignon, and the rest Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot, the 2020 Château Ormes De Pez offers up a great perfume of red and black currants, sweet tobacco, sandalwood, and spice. Medium to full-bodied on the palate, with ripe tannins and good overall balance, it's another terrific 2020 that offers pleasure even today yet will evolve for 15+ years if well stored.

The 2020 Ormes de Pez has held on to its Pauillac-inspired bouquet with touches of pencil shaving littered amongst the tightly-knit black fruit, then brine aromas percolating up with aeration (I give this 20 minutes to open). The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannins, cohesive yet maybe just missing the mid-palate weight and concentration of say, the Cazes's Lynch Bages or Haut-Batailley. Fresh and saline on the finish. Give it two or three years in bottle.