2019 Chateau Croix de Labrie Saint-Emilion Grand Cru 750 ml

Croix de Labrie has everything you want in a bottle of Right Bank Bordeaux.

Bold, luscious, powerful, and made by living legend Michel Rolland, the 2019 boasts an absolutely stunning 98-point score. It’s a wine that lives up to Robert Parker’s pronouncement a decade ago that Croix de Labrie is “always one of the sexiest wines from Bordeaux.” 

Finding it, however, can be tough. The château turns out only about 5% as much wine as Saint-Émilion’s most famous producer, Cheval Blanc—so releases disappear in a snap.

Wine Cellar Insider declared that Croix de Labrie “gives so much pleasure the moment it’s bottled, buyers should not be worried about how long it will age”—and this is the château’s greatest vintage ever.

The first time we visited Croix de Labrie, we couldn’t stop gushing about the tiny estate’s thrilling soils and 100-year-old vines as we toured the grounds with proprietors Axelle and Pierre Courdurié. But after we went on for a while, the normally loquacious Pierre finally laughed, cut us off, and summed it up perfectly: “Yes,” he said, “we have f*****g good terroir.” 

Guided from grape to glass by world-renowned winemaker Michel Rolland, the estate combines its quality-first mentality with absolute expertise in the cellar—though, when space runs low, barrels sometimes have to be stacked in the Courduriés’ living room. The wine was fermented plot by plot in small barrels, a technique favored by Rolland for producing better oak integration, softer tannins, and rounder, richer flavors. It then matured for 18 months in 100% new French barriques. 

Robert Parker described Croix de Labrie as the “quintessential poster boy” for the garagiste movement because of its opulence and power.