Château L'Évangile 2024 en Primeur

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.

On aime sa fraîcheur aromatique et sa bouche d’un charme fou avec son attaque suave et florale sur l’oeillet, la pivoine et le graphite, les fleurs poivrées avec de la salinité. L’une des réussites majeures du millésime.

Looking at the Grand Vin, the 2024 Château L'Evangile is a blend of 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Franc aging in 50% new oak, 25% foudre, 8% in amphora, and the rest in used barrels. It's a smoking effort with a deep ruby/purple hue as well as a stunning Pomerol bouquet of red and blue fruits, damp earth, smoky tobacco, and lead pencil. Playing in the medium-bodied end of the spectrum, it's beautifully balanced, has a layered, elegant mid-palate, and ripe, firm, yet polished tannins. It's one hell of an impressive 2024!

Very dense and rich aromas with sweet spices, clove and anise as well as black plum and damson. Very rich and layered, this tastes not only like Pomerol and Evangile but like a really good vintage of Evangile. Lovely texture of depth of fruit with fresh acidity (but like the Blason not as high as the vintage average) and ripe supple tannins. Huge congratulations to Juliiette and her team for the enormous amount of work that went into creating these wines. At 21 hl/ha, this wine is offering a greater concentration than even the average of the appellation. No chaptalisation was needed for the Grand Vin.

Fragrant and dark, chocolate, vanilla, cherry, plum and liquorice scents with subtle floral notes too. Concentrated and sleek, this has a lovely texture and sense of completeness from the start. Tannins are very gently plump giving a round, almost filling expression with crystalline and pure black fruit and super fine, powdery almost mineral tannins. So well constructed, not shouting, but equally there’s nothing light about this wine. Sophisticated and really refined but still with power. They harnessed the natural power and leant into the vintage with delicacy and livelines. 3.65pH. A yield of 22hl/ha. No press wine. In organic. (Georgina Hindle)

The 2024 L'Evangile has turned out beautifully, reflecting this estate's recent evolution (refining barrel choices and integrating foudre into the cellar) and its comparatively young vineyard's propensity to perform well in years with minimal hydric stress. Offering up aromas of cassis and blackberries mingled with notions of violets and black tea, it's medium to full-bodied, lively and layered, with a velvety attack, good depth at the core and a persistent finish. This blend of 80% Merlot, 19% Cabernet Franc and 1% Cabernet Sauvignon attained 13.5% alcohol. (William Kelley)