Chateau Gloria St. Julien 2020

Decanter : 94 Points

(1/31/2023) Tobacco, dark chocolate and scented flowers on the nose - beautiful aromatic display. Ripe and concentrated fruit but with clarity and precision alongside savoury elements of coffee, cola and creamy blackcurrants. Tannins are rich and grippy edged by liquorice and a salty minerality giving St-Julien typicity. Charming with energy and poise. Drinking Window: 2030 - 2050.

The Wine Independent : 93 Points

(3/12/2023) The 2020 Gloria has a deep garnet-purple color. It rocks up with ready-to-go notes of baked blackberries, warm cassis, and blueberry compote, plus hints of pencil lead, black olives, and clove oil. Medium-bodied, the palate is generous and refreshing, with velvety tannins and a provocative lift on the finish. Drinking: 2025 - 2047.

James Suckling : 94 Points

(5/14/2023) This is poised and elegant with notes of bitter chocolate, crushed walnuts, black peppercorns, blackberries and blackcurrants. It’s medium-bodied with silky tannins and layers of fresh black fruit. Classy. Try from 2026.

Wine Spectator : 93 Points

(3/31/2023) Youthfully taut and well-structured, with singed apple wood and licorice root notes holding a core of red currant, dark plum and blackberry fruit in check for now. Reveals a nice racy graphite underpinning on the finish. One for the cellar. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc. Best from 2026 through 2038.

Vinous - Antonio Galloni : 93 Points

(12/2022) The 2020 Gloria is a very pretty, lifted St.-Julien. Blood orange, mint, sweet red berry fruit, white pepper and rose petal all grace the 2020. Gloria is a wine of energy and understatement. The 2020 is especially charming. Drinking Window: 2025 - 2038.

Jeb Dunnuck : 93 Points

(3/29/2023) Just about a perennial must-buy, the 2020 Chateau Gloria is another terrific vintage for this Saint-Julien chateau, which always seems to turn out a fabulous wine that sells for a great price. Sporting a deep purple hue as well as impressive aromatics of ripe blackcurrants, plums, camphor, smoked tobacco, and gravelly earth, it's a wine that blossoms with time in the glass. (I followed this bottle for multiple days.) Medium to full-bodied on the palate, it has beautifully polished tannins, outstanding balance, and the more focused style of the vintage. Tasted twice with consistent notes. Maturity: 2027 - 2047.

Vinous - Neal Martin : 93 Points

(12/2022) The 2020 Gloria is the last vintage before the estate moved completely towards organic farming. It has a lovely bouquet with blackberry, raspberry, orange rind and sous-bois aromas, precise and focused. The oak is nicely integrated here (40% new). The palate is medium-bodied with pliant tannins, harmonious and poised, just a little soy in the background, almost understated towards the finish that gently fans out. It might drink a little earlier than I estimated from barrel, but it's going to be a gem. Drinking Window: 2026 - 2050.