"Aromatic intensity, wild flowers, some chocolate and blackcurrant notes. Red cherries. Grippy and filling but soft, chalky and saline, a gorgeous weight on the palate...lovely muscular edge without the heft. ...96 points."  Georgina Hindle, Decanter, Apr '26

Released today, 2025 Château d'Armailhac is offered for sale en primeur at £184 per six bottles, with barrel scores as high as 95-96 points, from James Suckling. 

Under the same ownership as Mouton-Rothschild, d'Armailhac is a Pauillac Fifth Growth, the same classification level as names like Lynch-Bages, so it always strikes us that this wine is not more highly rated.   The vineyards have been improved no end over the last couple of decades, and a new winery was completed in 2021.  Technical director Lucille Lauilhé joined in 2022 and has emphasised precision and finesse in recent vintages. 

Certainly, we notice an elegance and polish to the tannins in recent vintages, echoing that at Mouton.   Neal Martin finds the 2025 "less flamboyant than some vintages" and we think this is intentional.  He also notes it is "very refined and quite long", giving it a drinking window that extends to 2055.  For us, Decanter's Georgina Hindle 'gets' this d'Armailhac best of all the critics, noting that the château has controlled the extraction carefully to produce a serious, structured and elegant wine, with a moderate abv of 13%, but with a 'muscular edge'.  

Also released this morning is the 2025 from d'Armailhac's sibling, Clerc Milon, at £309 per six and with 95 points from Georgina Hindle. Sitting inbetween the vineyards of Lafite and Mouton Rothschild, Clerc Milon is also a Fifth Growth.  We loved tasting the '25, but felt d'Armailhac showed better (at least, from barrel), hence we recommend going for the latter this year.

Offered en primeur, on allocation.  Landing spring 2028.

Magnums available with £25 ex-VAT bottling surcharge per six, please enquire for other formats.

All previous offers of 2025 Bordeaux can be found here.