Barrel sample. This is a finely balanced wine that's ripe and structured at the same time. It has richness and spice, with a powerful context of wood, juicy blackberry fruits and delicious acidity. With such concentration, this is a wine with excellent ageing potential.

This has a nice core of bramble-edged plum and blackberry pâte de fruit flavors, underscored with lightly singed alder and juniper hints. A mineral note maintains a little tension through the finish. This should age nicely in the mid-term. Best from 2016 through 2022. 5,416 cases made.

Tasted blind at the Southwold Bordeaux tasting. The 2012 Beauséjour Bécot had a strange bouquet at first, a little funkiness that soon dissipates with several swirls of the glass. I like the delineation here, nuanced red cherry and wild strawberry scents, black tea and undergrowth, though I noticed that it becomes just a little volatile with aeration-something to watch out for. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannin, foursquare for a Saint Emilion and yet nicely focused, just the right amount of dryness, if not quite delivering the requisite complexity and tension on the finish. This is one of those wines that is "nearly there" and needs bottle age, but I am certain it will come good once it has settled down. Tasted January 2016.

The 2012 Beauséjour-Bécot has an intriguing nose, quite concentrated with maybe a little New World, yet attractive with red fruit, cough candy, fig and black honey aromas. A touch of VA here? The palate is medium- bodied with supple tannins, fleshy and ripe with a smooth texture. It just feels a little over-extracted on the finish at the expense of tension and freshness, a shame as it would otherwise merit a higher score. Tasted blind at the Southwold Ten-Year On tasting.