Anson: Château Lassegue vertical 2009-2018

This is a young wine that is knitted down in flavour but it is not tight or difficult to navigate. You feel the breadth and complexity to the fruit, along with juicy powerful freshness, and the gourmet packing of liquorice and chocolate. These are big wines that are big but expertly balanced by slate and crushed stone minerality, giving balance and succulence. 60% new oak. 3.75pH. Harvested 24 September to 13 October. A yield of 49hl/ha.

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 the best 2017s in St-Emilion. So much smoke and grilled chocolate add layers of interest to the berry fruits. This was the year of the frost, where production dropped from 7,000 to 4,500 cases and left this unusual blend.

A brilliant wine, with poise and a sense of stillness and deep raspberry fruits that are centred. Even on the nose you can feel the texture - this is built, muscular and powerful - it is profound, with evident time ahead of it. Pierre's son Nicolas began taking a bigger hand in the winemaking as of this vintage.

Inky in colour and the feel of the wine remains extremely young, suggesting you need a little more patience. Saffron and earthy smoked turmeric spices layer the fruit, adding depth and complexity. This has richness and power but also lift, with gourmet notes of liquorice and chocolate giving appellation signature.

Explosion of rich turmeric, crushed stone and subtle smoked saffron with touches of grilled almond, and a rich, powerful bramble berry fruit. Lovely chewy tannins also, shot through with pulses of electricity and minerality. You can enjoy this now because the aromatics are already giving so much, but it is sure to age brilliantly for another few decades.

It is in the most difficult vintages that you see the winemaker's hand; the length on this wine comes not from the depth of the fruit but from the gentle spicy notes of nutmeg and white pepper. Raspberry leaf and smoked earth comes through as things open. Helped in this vintage by the fact that the Seillans live on site at Serilhan, making it easier to treat at weekends, and this was a vintage when you certainly needed to do that.

A little less evolution in the aromatics here than the 2011, emphasis instead on toasty grilled oak and turmeric spice, set amid dark berry fruits. A lot is hidden right now, the texture is charming and fleshy, but these are big tannins and it has plenty to give over the next decade.

This is a little more ready to drink than the 2010 vintage at this point, but still delivers plenty of rich, fleshy black fruits through the mid palate. A little tight at first, but as it settles in the glass, a sweetness to the fruit becomes clearer, with blackberry puree and vanilla bean, along with a juicy hawthorn savoury finish. An early harvest in this vintage, but doesn't feel like an overly hot vintage in terms of its fruit character.

Deep inky colour with ruby reflections. This is extremely successful, with a feeling of everything being in its place - softly textured black cherry and blackberry fruits, riven through with cloves, cracked pepper spices, smoked earth and saffron. Savoury and juicy on the finish as the slate texture kicks in.

Cassis and blackberry laced with cumin, turmeric and saffron - these are plenty of tannins here even at 11 years old, but they are melted into the body of the wine. As it opens, a slate minerality tugs underneath, adding texture to the close of play and suggesting there is plenty of life ahead. An unusual blend, with higher Cabernet Sauvignon than usual, thanks to a hail storm in May that took out a sizeable section of Merlot grapes, and left a yield of around 22hl/ha.