Château de Sales 2025

Perfumed floral flowers and strawberries, some Cabernet elements, mint, blackcurrant leaf, tobacco and cola. Ripe and plump but so cool. Lovely elegance and freshness – it’s finely detailed with softly grainy tannins giving a salty, chalky grip on the palate. I love the cool blueberry elements – long, structured but not firm, not muscular, more svelte and sinewy. A really accomplished style with everything you want. Maybe lacking in complexity for the moment but there’s no faulting the finesse and drinkability of this. 3.65pH. Ageing 15% new, 70% barrels of one year and 15% cement tanks. Harvest 5-17 September. Marie-Laure Latorre (agricultural engineer and oenologist) was appointed general director in September 2025 arriving from Château Jean Faure in St-Émilion where she handled technical, commercial and large-scale restructuring projects.

Filled with cherries, and strong floral notes in the nose, the medium-bodied, bright, crisp wine offers freshness and a delicate mid-palate, with a soft, silky, cherry oriented finish. With a new director and consultant, the estate is showing a marked improvement. Drink from 2028-2045. 90-92 Pts

The bouquet unfolds with subtlety, offering a delightful attention to detail in which each element plays an equal part. A revealing opening where freshness and fruity expression support one another. The slightly creamy attack sets the tone for a delicate, elegant progression. You can clearly sense the intention not to overdo it, to let the wine speak for itself and to create a balance between temperament and energy. A wine that stays the course toward finesse and depth. Ageing should help it strengthen its mid-palate.

A beautiful Pomerol perfume rises from the glass: a subtle creamy note, dark berries, blond tobacco, smoke and rose tea; a fruit-driven palate, rich yet elegant, with a creamy texture, the fruit at perfect ripeness; silky tannins wrap around it, an unrivaled charmer, with a long finish that leaves a salty feel on the palate. Alongside the slightly more opulent 2022, this 2025 is resting in barrel as the best—and certainly the most refined and nuanced—de Sales ever produced.