The 2021 Durfort Vivens has turned out well in bottle, offering up aromas of dark berries and plums mingled with notions of pencil shavings and vanilla pod. Medium to full-bodied, layered and lively, it exhibits impressive depth and sweetness of fruit, not only for the vintage but also for a blend dominated by fully 97% Cabernet Sauvignon, concluding with a long, precise finish.

Containing fully 97% Cabernet Sauvignon this year, the 2021 Durfort Vivens shows considerable promise, unwinding in the glass with aromas of cassis, dark berries, loamy soil, cigar wrapper and spices. Medium to full-bodied, deep and layered, it's velvety and impressively concentrated, with powdery tannins, lively acids and a long, penetrating finish. Tasted twice. The 62-hectare estate, of which some 55 hectares are planted, has been directed by Gonzague Lurton since 1992 and farmed biodynamically since 2013. Soils are quaternary gravels, with a rather low percentage of clay when compared with the likes of Ch?teaux Margaux and Palmer, and Cabernet Sauvignon dominates the blend, delivering wines of perfume, intensity and concentration. Lurton finds that physiological maturity and analytical maturity are much more synchronized with the new farming methods, even if in a vintage such as 2018 he's suffered, producing a mere 6,000 bottles. Recent vintages have certainly been on a qualitative roll, and today Durfort Vivens unquestionably lives up to its 1855 second growth status.