100-Point Wines

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Talk about a thrill a second, as well as unprecedented decadence (at least for me), consider the rarity of a flight of six double magnums of Petrus! Because there were not many people at the tasting, there was the possibility of having several large glasses of these wines, making judging them all the more fun. And let's not forget the medical benefit of flushing the fat out of one's arteries with such remarkable juice! The 1970 Petrus has hit its peak of perfection. In the last 4-5 years, it has shed much of its tannin yet remains a young, full-bodied, blockbuster style of Petrus. Extremely concentrated and thick, with layers of mocha-tinged, berry, and black-cherry fruit presented in an enormously-endowed, viscously-textured, alcoholic, full-bodied format, this wine should remain at its plateau for another 20-25 years.The notes for this wine are taken from the description of Series IV - Flight B of the 1995 tasting conducted in Munich by Helga and Hardy Rodenstock. Many years after the tasting from which this note derives allegations were made concerning the authenticity of old and rare bottles of wine sold by Hardy Rodenstock to collectors around the world. The matter has been the subject of numerous articles, litigation and at least one book. Mr. Parker believes that the wines served to him at this tasting were authentic so this note and the others from that specific tasting continue to be posted on eRobertParker.com.Robert M. Parker, Jr. | 100 RPI drank this last year with some wine collector friends ­you guessed it: in Hong Kong! It’s a very special bottle I’ve been lucky enough to have tried on a number of occasions, and it never disappoints. The nose shows olives, brown sugar and dark fruit. It’s full and joyous with round tannins and a flavorful finish. Truly sublime, and among the great vintages of this legendary estate such as 1947, 1990, or1998.James Suckling | 99 JS(Château Pétrus) The 1970 Pétrus is a great bottle of wine that is still clearly on its way up, and is years away from really hitting its apogee of perfection. The bouquet is bottomless, as it offers up a beautiful and refined mélange of mulberry, plum, black raspberry, mocha, a touch of game, lovely minerality, smoke and a touch of wood. On the palate the wine is full-bodied, deep and seamless, with a rock solid core of fruit, superb elegance, great intensity of flavor, ripe tannins, and great focus and grip on the long, tangy and palate-staining finish. This wine is remarkably young and fresh for its age, and clearly will not peak for at least another decade. It is a great vintage of Pétrus. (Drink between 2006-2050)John Gilman | 97 JGThe 1970 Petrus here is far superior to the one poured in London a few months earlier. The bouquet is crystalline with a mixture of red and black fruit, hints of thyme, ferrous notes percolating through with time. So much poise and that is translated through to the palate framed by filigree tannins, a perfect line of acidity and black truffle notes towards the elegant finish. This is an outstanding example but be warned that there is bottle variation. Tasted at Epure restaurant in Hong Kong.Vinous Media | 96 VM

This wine has such balance and harmony. I remember when it was young and how the new wood and intense fruit came out, but they have finally come together in such a beautiful way. It shows subtle and complex character of plums, cedar, dried flowers, and earth. The texture or mouthfeel is beautiful as you taste it.James Suckling | 100 JSOne of the great modern-day Bordeaux, the 1989 Clinet still has a saturated purple color and a sweet nose of creme de cassis intermixed with incense, licorice, smoke, and mineral. As the wine sits in the glass, more blueberry and blackberry notes emerge, intermixed with some toasty oak, earth, and spice. This spectacularly concentrated, full-bodied, multi-dimensional wine is the stuff of dreams. Anticipated maturity: 2005-2025. Last tasted, 10/02.Robert Parker | 100 RPThe 1989 Clinet is the vintage that put this Pomerol estate on the map thanks to a perfect score from you-know-who. While I have never encountered a perfect bottle myself, a magnum hinted that it was not beyond the realm of possibility, though I have found bottles to be a bit hit-or-miss. This bottle is one of the better examples. It features kirsch, cassis and crushed violets on the nose, like a Margaux with the dial turned up to eleven (and I mean that in a positive way.) There is some VA here, but it merely gives kick to the aromatics. The palate is medium-bodied with a rich, precocious entry and generous sloe and brown sugar notes, very deep and rounded. A slightly volatile finish offers marvelous length. I suspect that to really experience the 1989 Clinet at its peak, you need to find perfectly cellared larger formats, although clearly bottles can be a thrill. Tasted blind at lunch in London.Vinous Media | 95 VM

The 2005 Ausone is a perfect wine of the vintage. It displays crushed rock, spring flowers, blueberry and blackberry fruit, a full-bodied mouthfeel, stunning purity and richness, and perfect harmony among all of its component parts (acidity, tannin, wood, alcohol and extract). Still youthful, but oh, so promising, this wine should be set aside for another decade and drunk over the following 50-75 years.Robert Parker | 100 RPI love the tobacco, berry, cigar box, toasty oak, ripe fruit and fresh mushroom flavors in this full-bodied red, which has ultralayered tannins and vanilla, new oak and berry character. Powerful and superconcentrated, with great length. This is a muscular, full-throttle wine, racing very, very fast. Best after 2019. 1,330 cases made.Wine Spectator | 100 WSDeep ruby-red. Penetrating aromas of cassis and minerals. The nose does not prepare one for this huge, improbably sweet, palate-saturating wine, whose pungent minerality and epic intensity makes it solid as a rock. The three-dimensional texture here is uncanny, and the wine’s explosive finishing flavors of dark berries, bitter chocolate and minerals persist for minutes. This must be one of the three or four greatest young Bordeaux I’ve ever tasted. The numbers here: 14.28% alcohol, 3.55 pH and an IPT between 80 and 85. This will go on for several decades, and I would not be at all surprised if it shut down in bottle for a very long time.Vinous Media | 98+ VMA superb wine that brings together all the qualities of this vintage. It has great fruit, layers of acidity, dark tannins and a velvety texture, without losing the sense of place that sets great Bordeaux apart.Wine Enthusiast | 98 WE

Among the most saturated in color of all the 2005 Pomerols (which is saying something), this wine has a spectacular nose of licorice, mulberry, blackberry and sweet blue fruits. The new oak is completely hidden, the wine full-bodied, multi-layered and just stunning. The purity, richness and skyscraper-like mouthfeel are incredible. Give it another 5-10 years of cellaring and drink it over the following 30+ years.Robert Parker | 100 RPThe 2005 L’Eglise-Clinet soars out of the glass with captivating aromatics. Inky dark fruit, graphite, lavender, licorice, rose petal and spice captive the senses. In the glass, the 2005 is outrageously beautiful, with layers of inky dark fruit that continue to open, seemingly with no end. Floral notes and redder tonalities of fruit develop with time in the glass. L’Eglise-Clinet is another wine in this tasting that just got better and better with time. It is an epic Pomerol that evokes so many memories of tasting at the château with late proprietor Denis Durantou. Well-stored bottles will prove to be nearly immortal.Antonio Galloni | 99 AGRight from the first nose you find yourself melting into the glass. Layers of complex aromatics prevent you from taking a sip too soon, just sit and enjoy the white truffles, black cherries, tobacco, menthol and liquorice root. These notes continue into the palate, and overall this wine has a huge caressing persistency. The tannins are still holding you tight, very much in control but unobtrusively so. This is the first vintage made with young vines planted in 2001, at 8,000 vines per hectare over 1.5ha, with a pH of 3.6. Drinking Window 2018 - 2038Decanter | 98 DECDark ruby in color. Fabulous aromas of blackberry, tobacco, black olive and brown sugar follow through to a full body, with incredibly velvety tannins that go on and on and caress the palate for minutes. Shows class and complexity. Stunning. The greatest young wine ever from this producer. Best after 2016. 1,375 cases made.Wine Spectator | 98 WSThis is an elegant wine with wonderful length and beauty. Full yet reserved, showing loads of complexity. This is just starting to show its colors, but still needs at least eight years. Don’t touch this until 2018. Please be patient with this one. 85% Merlot and 15% Cabernet Franc.James Suckling | 97 JS

After tasting it three times from bottle, I am convinced this prodigious wine is one of the greatest young Bordeaux I have ever tasted. Inky blue/purple with notes of camphor, forest floor, blackberry, cassis, sweet cherries, licorice, the wine has stunning aromatics, unctuous texture and an almost inky concentration, but without any hard edges. With considerable tannin and just enough acidity to provide definition, this wine transcends even its premier grand cru classe terroir. It is certainly the finest Clos Fourtet ever produced. Give it 5-7 years of cellaring to allow some of its baby fat to fall away. There is certainly enough structure underneath to keep for 30-50 years. Bravo!From my barrel score of 95-98, I suppose I should have seen this perfect score coming, particularly considering what proprietor Philippe Cuvelier and estate manager Tony Ballu have accomplished over the last decade. This is one of the great terroirs of St.-Emilion, nearly 50 acres high on the clay beds and deep limestone plateau of the region, just a stone’s throw from the luxury hotel and restaurant Hostellerie de Plaisance. Yields were moderate at 34 hectoliters per hectare, and the final blend is 88% Merlot, 8% Cabernet Sauvignon (somewhat unusual) and the rest Cabernet Franc, aged 18 months in 80% new oak.Robert Parker | 100 RPThe greatest Clos Fourtet I’ve ever tasted, eclipsing the heavenly 2005 and 2015, the 2009 Château Clos Fourtet offers an insane bouquet of black cherry and black currant fruits as well as a loads of smoked tobacco, chocolate, licorice, and toasted spices. It shows a touch of classic limestone-influenced white truffle with time in the glass and is as majestic as they come on the palate, with full-bodied richness, a seamless texture, beautiful tannins, and a monster of a finish. A blend of 88% Merlot, 8% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 4% Cabernet Franc brought up in 80% new French oak, this magical Saint-Emilion can be enjoyed any time over the coming 30-40 years. Jeb Dunnuck | 100 JDStrikingly different in construction from the Pomerol that it was paired with in the blind tasting, this is rich and hedonistic both on the nose and the attack, with a punch of ripe raspberry, blueberry fruits and clear oak finessing. Give it a minute in the glass, and the definition and precision pulls everything into an orderly line, with lift, spiced clove and salinity on the finish that stretches out in your mouth, giving a reflection of the Asteries limestone terroir that is covered with just 40cm of topsoil in much of the vineyard (up to 1m in other sections). Tasting more in line with its En Primer promise than when I had this wine two years ago, a brilliant St Emilion and a classic of its type. Drinking Window 2020 - 2045.Decanter | 97 DECThe 2009 Clos Fourtet has a generous and opulent bouquet with red cherries, kirsch, fig and light mocha aromas that gently unfold, retaining admirable definition and poise. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannin, a fine bead of acidity, good structure. A more masculine, serious finish exerts impressive control. This is a classy Saint-Émilion with plenty of ageing potential. Tasted blind at Farr Vintners’ 2009 Bordeaux tasting.Vinous Media | 95 VMElegant as well as rich, this is a beautiful wine. It has great depth of flavor, the sweetest fruit, deliciously ripe. At the same time, the tannins are an underlying sustenance to the impressive ageworthiness.Wine Enthusiast | 95 WETons of black fruit, plenty of smoke and some balsamic character make a dramatic statement on the nose. On the palate there’s rather sweet fruit at the front, then major tannins come through at the finish that still need time to fully resolve. Better after 2022. (Horizontal Tasting, London, 2019)James Suckling | 94 JSRather ripe, but nicely framed by singed apple wood, which keeps the core of damson plum, black currant and black cherry flavors at bay for now. Licorice root and black tea notes undercut the finish, which is on the grippy side. This opens steadily in the glass, too. Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc. Best from 2014 through 2027. 3,750 cases made.Wine Spectator | 93 WS