Top St-Emilion 2017 wines

This is totally stunning, demonstrating depth, texture, salinity and flesh. It manages to be both austere and generous at the same time, pushing and pulling....

Some frost impact (seen in the 70% Merlot and lower Cabernet Franc than usual), but clearly not getting in the way of success, this Angélus...

The first year of what has been a major stylistic shift at the property, with a mix of both evident changes - bringing the harvest...

Fresh herbs on the nose, still with the trademark perfumed black fruits but more at the background. More gravel fruit in the blend this year...

Excellent concentration and freshness with linear, rich black fruits. You can really feel the crunchy, impressive layers of cigar box, blackberry and slate. It slowly...

This has the austerity of limestone in 2017 but it also has the well-worked, delicate flesh of these exemplary soils, and the careful inching forward...

This is one of the best examples of this wine that I have tasted, reaching the same heights as some of the biggest names in...

Canon remains pretty austere at this stage with the Cabernet Franc dominating. It's not as immediately seductive as some years, but you can feel the...

This is definitely an impressive 2017 with white pepper spice showcasing its own character that diverts sharply from St Emilion's fruitbombs. It's good quality, grown...

While lacking aromatic intensity, the palate exudes breadth and density. One encounters some palate steeliness akin to the 2011 vintage and 2006 ripe fruit warmth,...

There's very little of this wine in 2017 due to the frost. Full credit to Fleur Cardinale for what they have achieved here, producing just...

The 2017 possesses a more earthy character than 2018 and 2019, but it is also endowed with finely focused aromas of black fruit, spice, and...

Rich, layered, complex, a winner in a difficult vintage, full of juice and salinity. Feels alive, with the natural break of the vintage nicely played...

Lovely dark chocolate and fresh mint aromas are followed by a textured, silky and soft palate. It has a slightly gourmet feel, but is very...

Lighter bodied and less concentrated than the vintages either side [2018 and 2016], but this is fine and racy and equally precise. There is more...

You can feel the slight difference in style that one degree less alcohol makes this year, but it retains rich notes of coffee bean, chocolate,...

Intense and powerful, again a reflection of house philosophy. Layered and sexy, it is always the wine that I like the most in the Perse...

Up on the plateau, this was spared the ravages of frost but still only yielded 16hl/ha. It has the Perse signature punch of fruit, then...

Claude Gros consults at this 2ha estate, founded in 1999 by Veronique and Jean François Julien. This is extremely accomplished in a challenging year, with...

A floral touch from the first nose, smoky but delicate, with a powerful and surprisingly supple touch to the tannins. This must be one of...

2017 is not the biggest vintage at this estate, but it is polished and enjoyable and has a lot to celebrate. It has juice and...

This has absolutely wonderful richness and freshness with a saline note - I tasted it twice and it impressed even more the second time. It's...

Powerful but well-rounded and carefully extracted, this has the St-Emilion confident power but tons of wonderful slate character to hold everything in check. There are...

Forest strawberry and autumnal fruit aromas are purer than in the comparable 2014 vintage, with a cleaner and crisper palate in this transitional vintage. The...

This is a little underwhelming in terms of its fruit expression, with some savoury cassis and bilberry flavours on the fringes of under ripeness. It's...

A dry but coolish summer combined with limestone soils certainly sends those pH levels pretty low. Although fairly tight and austere, this unfolds prettily with...

This is very good stuff from Malet-Roquefort. Firm, dark, cassis and bilberry fruits are joined by insisting tannins which make their appearance early and hang...

A great job in this vintage from Benoit Trocard. It's well-handled and contemporary, with a damson and cocoa bean dusting and a clear sense of...

Magrez has done a good job in 2017 pretty much across the board - these are wines that have the natural austerity of the vintage,...

A good wine in the vintage from the Jean-François Janoueix stable, from 21.5ha of vines. Brambly fruits on the nose lead into a palate with...

Majoring on tar and clove notes, followed by grilled patisserie flavours, this has definite oak influence. The palate is slightly drying, but there is a...

This is an estate that I love, but this year it's extremely inhibited and will take its time to open. It hasn't reached the heights...

This is a success for an estate that has now seen ten years under the stewardship of Cheval Blanc, undergoing lots of replanting and reworking...

Frost at Angelus affected around 10% of blocks for the grand vin, but Carillon (which has been from a different vineyard since 1996, together with...

Silky, rich and supple, with a slight grilled vanilla bean and toasted brioche edge. This has a really lovely depth of fruit, a lovely wine...

A frostaffected year, so low yields and an unusual blend (70% Merlot with Cabernets Franc and Sauvignon), but one they were so happy with that...

The low pH of 3.5 makes this difficult to taste when very young, but there's still a lot to get out of it. It's a...

They were affected by frost here so the yields are pretty low, but to deal with the resulting irregularity they employed very precise fruit reception,...

Located up at 102m, the second highest point in the appellation after Troplong Mondot, the grand vin had no frost and a normal yield (accounting...