98-99 Point Wines

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Reminiscing over the 1989 and 1990 vintages, which I have followed from birth, there always seemed to be a dramatic difference in quality. Not that the 1990 was not a top wine, but in its infancy, I never thought it would come close to being as riveting and magnetic as its older sibling, the 1989. However, it has proven to be nearly as prodigious. One of the hottest years in Bordeaux, 1990, a vintage of enormous yields, even dwarfing yields in 1985 and 1982, produced a fabulously open-knit, seemingly fast track La Mission that, at age 22, shows no signs of fading or losing its grip. The color is slightly more mature and evolved than the 1989’s, exhibiting a lighter rim and a less dark blue/ruby/purple hue. Classic La Mission-Haut-Brion aromatics of camphor, licorice, scorched earth, hot bricks, barbecue, cassis, blueberry and kirsch are well displayed. Broad, expansive, velvety-textured and opulent with high glycerin and perhaps slightly higher alcohol (I don’t have the statistics to verify that), the 1990 is as delicious and open-knit as the 1989, with less density and possibly less potential longevity. Most 1990s have been quick to reach full maturity, and as brilliant as they can be, they need to be monitored carefully by owners. Currently in late adolescence, but close to full maturity, the 1990 should hold in a cold cellar for another 15-20 years. However, it is a fabulous wine to inspect, taste and consume, so why wait?Robert Parker | 99 RPThe 1990 La Mission Haut-Brion was always going to lie in the shadow of the previous vintage, but let’s be clear: this is a magnificent, audacious follow-up. The nose might not be blessed with the Swiss-watch precision of the 1989, yet how can you possibly resist the heart-warming scents of roasted chestnuts and morels that suffuse the red berry fruit? The palate sports a slight gaminess and, as I noted in previous tasting notes, there is a Musigny-like personality toward the rounded, slightly earthy finish. Few La Missions have delivered such untrammeled drinkability. Tasted at the La Mission Haut Brion dinner at Amuse Bouche in Hong Kong.Vinous Media | 97 VM(Château La Mission Haut-Brion (served from magnum)) The 1990 La Mission is a very top example of this vintage, and out of magnum it is just beginning to blossom. The deep, complex and classy nose offers up a very ripe blend of cassis, spit-roasted game, saddle leather, cigar ash, dark soil tones and a smoky topnote. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and complex, with just a touch of La Mission’s youthful medicinal tones still in evidence. The wine is rock solid at the core, modestly tannic and beautifully balanced, with outstanding focus, length and grip. The 1990 vintage in general has not aged anywhere as well as I had initially anticipated, but this is one 1990 that does not disappoint. (Drink between 2012-2065)John Gilman | 94+ JGMuch more linear and firm than the 1989. Full- to medium-bodied, with firm tannins and a racy finish. A fine wine. ’89/’90 Bordeaux non-blind horizontal. Drink now.Wine Spectator | 93 WS

This still broods seriously, with dark plum, currant and blackberry fruit, studded with charcoal, singed tobacco and cedar notes and backed by a serious grip of roasted earth. The gorgeously long finish is driven by old-school tannins, with the smoldering edge going on and on. A brick house of a Margaux, with more charcoal than graphite, more austerity than elegance and more power than refinement.--Non-blind Château Margaux vertical (December 2013). Drink now through 2034. 18,000 cases made.Wine Spectator | 97 WSBottled very late (November, 1997), the 1995 has continued to flesh out, developing into one of the great classics made under the Mentzelopoulos regime. The color is opaque ruby/purple. The nose offers aromas of licorice and sweet smoky new oak intermixed with jammy black fruits, licorice, and minerals. The wine is medium to full-bodied, with extraordinary richness, fabulous equilibrium, and hefty tannin in the finish. In spite of its large size and youthfulness, this wine is user-friendly and accessible. This is a thrilling Margaux that will always be softer and more evolved than its broader-shouldered sibling, the 1996. How fascinating it will be to follow the evolution of both of these vintages over the next half century. Anticipated maturity: 2005-2040.Robert Parker | 95 RPThe 1995 Château Margaux is a vintage perhaps unfairly over-shadowed by the imperious 1996. That is unfair because the late Paul Pontallier crafted a great First Growth this year. It has a very impressive, quintessential Margaux bouquet that is undimmed after 23 years: black fruit, graphite, crushed violets and a touch of tobacco. If anything it becomes more and more pure with aeration and demonstrates exquisite delineation. The palate is very finely balanced. No, it does not have the intensity, the crystalline nature of the 1996 and yet there is a femininity and a finesse here that sweeps you off your feet. It is entertaining the possibility of secondary flavours but it remains focused on the red and black fruit, tensile on the almost balletic finish. Bon vin! Tasted blind at Philip’s February Christmas Party.Vinous Media | 95 VM

I think we can officially declare 25 years as being the sweet spot for Léoville Las Cases - at least in slow-ageing vintages such as 1996, which is so perfectly suited to Cabernet Sauvignon. Still full-bodied and concentrated even now, but generous also, with cassis, tobacco and cigarbox smoke softening the edges of flint-chiselled tannic frame... Las Cases can be almost Burgundian-like in how elusive it is (in this case because of how stubborn and tannic it can prove), but when you get the one bottle that sings, it’s all worth it. This more than proves the point. Michel Delon owner at the time.Jane Anson | 100 JAHaving previously rated it nearly perfect, I was apprehensive of a letdown about tasting the 1996 Leoville Las Cases once it had been bottled, but that concern was quickly dismissed once I put my nose in the glass. A profound Leoville Las Cases, it is one of the great modern day wines of Bordeaux. This wine’s hallmark remains a sur-maturite (over-ripeness) of the Cabernet Sauvignon grape. Yet the wine has retained its intrinsic classicism, symmetry, and profound potential for complexity and elegance. The black/purple color is followed by a spectacular nose of cassis, cherry liqueur, pain grille, and minerals. It is powerful and rich on the attack, with beautifully integrated tannin, massive concentration, yet no hint of heaviness or disjointedness. As this wine sits in the glass it grows in stature and richness. It is a remarkable, seamless, palate-staining, and extraordinarily elegant wine - the quintessential St.-Julien. Despite the sweetness of the tannin, I would recommend cellaring this wine for 7-8 years. Anticipated maturity: 2007-2035.Robert Parker | 98 RPSaturated bright, dark ruby. Perfumed, vibrant, very youthful aromas of cassis, violet and bitter chocolate. Dense and powerful, with great clarity of flavor thanks to a terrific spine of acidity. Almost painfully structured wine but not at all hard. Finishes very long and gripping, with a note of bitter chocolate. Drink 2012 through 2040.Vinous Media | 96+ VMIncredible nose of blackberry, mineral, cedar and currant. Full-bodied, with silky and refined tannins and a medium caressing finish. It’s a beautiful wine that begs to be drunk now but will age and improve for a long time.--’95/’96 Bordeaux retrospective. Drink now.Wine Spectator | 92 WS

A spectacular Latour, the 1996 may be the modern day clone of the 1966, only riper. This vintage, which is so variable in Pomerol, St.-Emilion, and Graves, was fabulous for the late-harvested Cabernet Sauvignon of the northern Medoc because of splendid weather in late September and early October. An opaque purple color is followed by phenomenally sweet, pure aromas of cassis infused with subtle minerals. This massive offering possesses unreal levels of extract, full body, intensely ripe, but abundant tannin, and a finish that lasts for nearly a minute. Classic and dense, it displays the potential for 50-75 years of longevity. Although still an infant, it would be educational to taste a bottle. Anticipated maturity: 2015-2050.Robert Parker | 99 RPFabulous aromas of crushed raspberries, plums and blackberries. Mind-blowing nose. Full-bodied, with soft and silky tannins and a long caressing finish. Hard not to drink now, but leave it alone.--’95/’96 Bordeaux retrospective. Best after 2010. 17,000 cases made.Wine Spectator | 96 WSThe 1996 Latour is a wine that I often find overrated and did not achieve everything that might have been possible in this favourable growing season. That said, this might well be the best of around two dozen bottles I have encountered over the years. As usual, the 1996 is decidedly austere at first, standoffish, looks down its nose at you. Yet it coalesces with time and develops engaging cedar-scented black fruit tinged with pencil box and a touch of iris with time. The palate (again) is a little muted at first but it soon found its voice and evolved very fine tannin allied with a crisp line of acidity. It is not quite as demonstrative as it was even just a couple of years ago, gained some detail and perhaps it will continue to meliorate. Very fine, very fine indeed - but not a patch of say, the Château Margaux or perhaps even Léoville Las Cases. Tasted at the International Business & Wine Latour dinner at Ten Trinity.Vinous Media | 94 VM(Château Latour) The last bottle of the 1996 Latour that I tasted was part of a mini-vertical that was one of the most ingenuous and generous flights of wine I have tasted in a long time, as my friend paired the 1996 Latour up with the 1896 Latour at a double blind tasting in February of this year! Needless to say, the one hundred years’ worth of bottle age between the two vintages was sufficient to convince none of us that it was the same property, but both wines acquitted themselves beautifully. I was surprised at how well the 1996 Latour was starting to show, given that it is a classically-styled Latour from a very tannic and powerful vintage in the Medoc, but the wine is already starting to drink with some generosity. The bouquet is superb, offering up scents of black cherries, cassis, cigar ash a touch of tariness, gravelly soil tones, smoke and a whisper of balsam bough in the upper register. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and rock solid at the core, with firm, still plenty chewy tannins, fine focus and balance and a very long, nascently complex and quite promising finish. This is nowhere near as unapproachable as I would have supposed the combination of Latour and 1996 would be, but I would be inclined to give it another decade in the cellar and really let the fireworks get rolling properly. (Drink between 2027-2085)John Gilman | 94+ JG(Château Latour, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pauillac, Bordeaux, France, Red) This highly anticipated bottle was a bit of a disappointment. One of the two bottles was oxidised, and the other seemed a bit more mature than I would have hoped, with a meaty, savoury note to the black fruit, accented with leather and smoke. The grapes were picked from 17th September to 2nd October, and slightly more than 50% of the fruit was used in the grand vin. A blend of 78% Cabernet Sauvignon, 17% Merlot and 5% Cabernet Franc. (Drink between 2022-2042)Decanter | 92 DEC

A gorgeously silky, juicy and balanced glass of wine, this combines elegant richness of sweet cocoa and blackberry, with tons of power and a feeling of holding itself in check. This is signature St Julien, concentrated yet delicate, just an utterly lovely wine that has good acidity, with tannins that have melted into the rest of the structure and fruit that is still absolutely in control, followed by a saline edge to the finish. There’s a long road ahead still, but this is a standout Ducru. Drinking Window 2019 - 2040Decanter | 98 DECThe 2005 Ducru Beaucaillou is a 10,000-case blend of 67% Cabernet Sauvignon and 33% Merlot (they used to produce 18,000-20,000 cases). It is an exceptionally powerful wine with a dense purple color, superb intensity, and a beautiful, sweet nose of spring flowers, raspberries, blueberries, graphite, and creme de cassis. Full-bodied with fabulous concentration, exceptionally high tannin, good acidity, and massive layers of richness that build incrementally on the palate, this monumental effort is more structured than their outstanding 2003. It may be the finest wine produced at this estate since the 1982 and 1961 Ducrus. Anticipated maturity: 2018-2050.Robert Parker | 97 RPThis offers dreamy aromas of singed mesquite and warm fruitcake that meld into a lush swath of mulled currant, fig and boysenberry fruit flavors. Black tea and incense notes skitter throughout, with a mouthwatering iron edge buried deeply.—Blind ’01/’03/’05 Bordeaux retrospective (December 2017). Best from 2020 through 2040. 10,000 cases made.Wine Spectator | 96 WSA nice, complex wine with notes of flowers, berries and leather in the nose. Full-bodied, with pure fruit that turns from light raspberry to cherry jam. This is balanced and silky, a beautiful harmony. Give this some time if you can.James Suckling | 95 JS94-96 Barrel sample. Huge blackcurrant fruits dominate a wine that is powerful and showing very ripe. There are flavors of smoky, balanced tannins, bitter cherries, black figs. As all the great wines in 2005, it finishes with a delicious lift of acidity.Wine Enthusiast | 95 WE(contains a relatively high percentage of merlot, in the range of 30%) Good deep ruby-red. Wonderfully sweet, aromatic nose combines currant, chocolate and cedary oak. Fat, lush and silky, with atypical volume to the flavors of plum, tobacco and chocolate. Wonderfully supple, plump wine with layers of flavor, thoroughly sweet tannins and compelling aromatic persistence. Today the wine’s substantial baby fat is masking its impressive underlying power. According to Borie, this 2005 combines the best traits of the chateau’s 2003 and 2000.Vinous Media | 94 VMDucru delivers absolute deliciousness in 2005, a refined and elegant pleasure that just feels right in the end. It could be that after all the sleek, floral beauty, the polished chocolate-truffle tannin, there’s a formidable grip that tightens around the finish. Suddenly it feels as hard as iron. If the aromatic beauty of the fruit can survive while the tannin matures, this could well be a wine to covet in 20 years.Wine & Spirits | 94 W&S(Château Ducru-Beaucaillou) The 2005 Ducru-Beaucaillou, which was also raised in one hundred percent new wood, will have no difficulty carrying its new oak to the finish line and is a superb young vintage of this fabled estate. The nose is deep, pure and shows off a lovely tang to its aromatic mélange of black cherries, cassis, a touch of blood orange, tobacco leaf, soil and cedar. On the palate the wine is fullish, deep and rock solid at the core, with a nice girdle of tangy acidity, excellent focus and grip and a very long, ripely tannic finish. Today there is just a touch of oak spice that sticks out on the backend, but this should be absorbed with no difficulty over the next couple of years and the 2005 Ducru-Beaucaillou should prove to be one of the reference point vintages for this property. (Drink between 2020-2070)John Gilman | 93 JG

The 2005 Montrose continues to show brilliantly, unwinding in the glass with notes of blackcurrant, red fruits, loamy soil, black truffles and cigar ash. Full-bodied, deep and concentrated, it’s still brooding and tannic, with lively acids and an imposing chassis of structuring—and artery-cleansing—extract. Still an adolescent, it’s one of the last unrepentantly old-school vintages of Montrose, and Médoc purists couldn’t own enough. While this remains a very youthful wine, it is now apparent that the 2005 will, at maturity, surpass the 1989 and 1990.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 98 RP Here we are fully crossing the threshold into younger, more primary aromatics, but they are also well integrated, beautifully softened and gorgeous. This is sappy with a chalky minerality and fully pliable tannins. It’s powerful, with a smile-inducing purity of fruit expression and excellent persistency of exotic coffee notes. 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 31% Merlot, 3.5% Cabernet Franc, 0.5% Petit Verdot. Drinking Window: 2017 - 2042Decanter | 98 DECThe 2005 Montrose is spectacular. Bright, perfumed and vertically explosive, the 2005 possesses remarkable energy right out of the gate. In 2005, Montrose doesn’t quite have the heft that it can, but that actually works to its advantage. Readers will find a wine that marries elegance with power so well. Gravel, dried herb, lavender and mocha lend striking complexity to the dark fruit in this gorgeous, regal Montrose. If anything, the 2005 still needs more time in bottle!Antonio Galloni | 97 AGThis continues to be very tight yet I loved drinking it the other night at dinner. Loads of spices, berries, meat, cloves and chocolate on the nose. Full body with soft, silky tannins and lots of rich fruit. Still chewy. This is just starting to open up now. Drink or hold.James Suckling | 96 JSThis is still a bit dark and brooding, with a charcoal frame around well-steeped fig and black currant fruit. The long finish lets a deep river of smoldering tobacco and warm stone notes course through. Austere and seemingly taciturn, yet thoroughly beautiful. May not be your style, but this is undeniable.—Blind ’01/’03/’05 Bordeaux retrospective (December 2017). Best from 2022 through 2042. 25,555 cases made.Wine Spectator | 95 WSThe 2005 Montrose continues to drink beautifully, with a complex yet powerful bouquet of blackcurrants, black raspberries, new saddle leather, tobacco leaf, and spice. This beauty has a medium to full-bodied mouthfeel, a supple style, sweet tannins, and is a charming, layered and ready to go Montrose that has loads to love. It continues to be surprisingly accessible and is a beauty to drink over the coming two decades.Jeb Dunnuck | 95 JDThis is so big it is blinding, a storm of mineral tannin and plum-skin extract. The volume is turned up high, and even as the tannic noise factor begins to diminish with days of air, the wine is still closed tight. The comportment of its power shows this to be a wine from a great terroir; the property, in fact, has some parallels to Latour, with its similarly shaped gravel promontory above the Gironde. Montrose consistently grows one of the staunchest, long-lived wines of the Médoc and though accommodations have been made in recent years to soften it, the tannic index in February 2006 read at 82, a force to reckon with over the decades to come. Diageo Château & Estate Wines, NYWine & Spirits | 93 W&S

A major success of the vintage. The wine exhibits extreme richness of the fruit, with all its sweet blackberry flavors. It also has underlying firm structure, density and solid tannins. Bring in the acidity at the end, and this is both impressive and ready for long-term aging.Wine Enthusiast | 98 WEMeasured and confident tannic hold with subtle grilled oak notes, a ton of ripe cassis and blueberry fruits, liquorice and eucalyptus on the finish, and a mouthwatering, moreish construction overall. This is a powerful St Julien, but with clear and present finesse. 60% new oak. A standout wine from this property, and a wonderful showcase of the slow burning brilliance of St Julien. Drinking Window 2020 - 2040.Decanter | 96 DECA super-classic St.-Julien that only has a hint of the opulence of the vintage. The beautiful cassis fruit and elegantly dry tannins push briskly through the long and graceful finish. (Horizontal Tasting, London, 2019)James Suckling | 96 JSThe 2009 Léoville-Barton has a much better bouquet than the Langoa with better definition and focus: blackberry, raspberry coulis, cedar and touches of graphite that gain intensity with aeration. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannin, a fine bead of acidity, lightly spiced with a graphite infused finish that feels very persistent. Tasted at BI Wines & Spirits’ Ten Year On tasting.Vinous Media | 95 VMThis is powerful Cabernet, with gutsy weight, but also polished feel to the fresh plum, warm blackberry sauce, bittersweet ganache and roasted apple wood notes. Long and tarry through the finish, but still invigorating despite its heft. Needs some time to round fully into form. Best from 2017 through 2035. Tasted twice, with consistent notes. 21,000 cases made.Wine Spectator | 95 WSMedium to deep garnet colored, the 2009 Leoville Barton gives up expressive cherry cordial, warm cassis and blackberry tart scents with nuances of menthol, cigar box and fallen leaves. Medium-bodied and elegantly played with loads of freshness and soft tannins, it has a long, perfumed finish.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 94 RP

Performing even better from bottle than it did from barrel, this appears to be the finest Lynch Bages since the 2000, 1990 and 1989. According to the chateau, the 2009 has the highest level of polyphenols ever measured as well as high alcohol (nearly 13.5%). A blend of 75% Cabernet Sauvignon and the rest largely Merlot with touches of Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot, it is an expressive, voluptuously textured effort with unctuosity and powerful, juicy, succulent blackberry and black currant flavors, low acids, a layered, massive mouthfeel, but no sense of heaviness or fatigue. This exquisite Lynch Bages should drink well for 30+ years.Robert Parker | 98 RPTight and backward, this has dense, almost chewy layers of fig, currant and plum cake behind a very solid wall of cedar, roasted vanilla and charcoal notes. There’s serious grip on the finish, with an iron edge that won’t quit. Best from 2015 through 2035. 31,500 cases made.Wine Spectator | 96 WSA powerful and ripe wine with a wide-screen personality, this makes a very bold statement without becoming a jot heavy. Serious tannins at the long finish suggest this has long-term aging potential. Drink now with a big steak or hold. (Horizontal Tasting, London, 2019).James Suckling | 96 JSA dense, immense, solidly powerful wine. The ripest fruit overflows, paralleling the dark, solid tannins. As so often, Lynch-Bages is a blockbuster, dark and concentrated, with immense aging potential.Wine Enthusiast | 96 WEThis is a little more subdued than some right now, needing a good five minutes in the glass before revealing layers of rich olive, cassis, exotic spices, cracked pepper and garrigue. You get the heat of the vintage and the ripeness of the fruit, balanced by muscular, chewy tannins and gorgeous chocolate notes. This is great, although for me the 2010 just pips it. Drinking Window 2020 - 2040Decanter | 95 DECThe 2009 Lynch-Bages has an intense bouquet which is more forward than Grand Puy Lacoste, albeit without the same complexity. Layers of blackberry, bilberry, brine and a touch of graphite. The palate is medium-bodied with saturated tannin, slightly lower in acidity than the 2010 Lynch Bages, dense and quite sinewy towards the finish. It might miss the class of its peers but you cannot help but admire the brawn underneath its aristocratic coat. Tasted at BI Wines & Spirits’ Ten Year On tasting.Vinous Media | 93 VM(Château Lynch Bages) I tasted two sample bottles of the Lynch Bages at the UGC tasting at Branaire-Ducru, but probably neither bottle was a pristine example. I tried to find time to swing by the château and taste another sample, but could not squeeze it into my already densely packed schedule, sop this note will have to suffice. I have given a wider range than customary for a sound wine, and I suspect that the ’09 Lynch Bages is probably likely to reside at the upper end of the range when all is said and done. The nose is deep, complex and classy, as it offers up notes of cassis, espresso, tobacco leaf, cigar smoke and cedar. On the palate the wine is deep, full, long and complex, with ripe tannins and quite a bit of structure on the finish. These samples were just not as vibrant or as long as I would expect from the ’09 Lynch, particularly based on the fine quality of the nose, and hence my equivocation on the score. (Drink between 2018-2050)John Gilman | 87-92+ JG

Borderline perfection in a bottle, the 2010 Pichon-Longueville Baron (79% Cabernet Sauvignon and 21% Merlot) boasts a saturated purple color as well as truly extraordinary aromatics of crème de cassis, licorice, crushed rock-like minerality, graphite, and spring flowers. Possessing full-bodied richness, a huge, unctuous mid-palate, and building tannin, it shows the purity, grandeur, and precision that makes this vintage so remarkable. Hide bottles for another 4-5 years, count yourself lucky, and enjoy bottles over the following 2-3 decades.Jeb Dunnuck | 99+ JDIncredible depth apparent from the first whiff as well as powerful aromatics combining graphite, black fruit and spices. The palate is concentrated but brimming with energy, yet what really stands out is its confounding freshness as well as the finesse and precise contours of the tannic framework. An already profound wine that will reach new heights over the next two decades. (Drink between 2022-2050)Decanter | 99 DECAdministrator Christian Seeley thinks the 2010 is the greatest Pichon Longueville Baron he has ever made, equaling some of the estate’s colossal wines from vintages such as 1989 and 1990. It was certainly showing well when I stopped by the chateau in January. Opaque purple, with loads of charcoal, licorice, incense and some exotic Asian spices along with abundant cassis liqueur, blackberry and hints of roasted coffee and spring flowers, it is full-bodied and opulent, with relatively high tannins, but they have sweetened up considerably and seem less aggressive than they did from barrel. The oak is clearly pushed to the background by the wine’s wealth of fruit, glycerin and full-bodied texture. This sensational Pichon Longueville Baron needs 5-6 years of cellaring, and should keep 30+ years.Robert Parker | 97+ RPThis is quintessential Pauillac, a great wine with its Cabernet proudly at the fore. It ranks with the 2009 and, with its tannins, is sure to age longer than that vintage. Solidly structured, powerful and dense, with fruit promised for the future, it succeeds with its weight and great concentration.Wine Enthusiast | 97 WEThe 2010 Pichon-Baron is simply one of the greatest wines produced under Christian Seely’s tenure. It has a stunning bouquet with penetrating black fruit, wilted violet and a touch of sea spray, a distinctive marine note verging on shucked oyster shells. The palate is very well balanced with fine grain tannins, layers pf graphite infused black fruit and a very detailed, captivating finish. Brilliant. Tasted from an ex-château bottle at the BI Wines & Spirits 10-Year On tasting.Vinous Media | 96 VMSolidly built, with a roasted edge to the steeped fig, blackberry and black currant flavors, quickly followed by brambly tannins and notes of bay leaf and espresso. Stays dark and tarry through the finish, with superb drive and verve. Best from 2017 through 2030.Wine Spectator | 95 WSA dense and layered wine with lots of ripe and sweet fruit. Loads of currants, plums and tar. This is concentrated and almost jammy with velvety tannins. Powerful. Chewy. Try in 2020.James Suckling | 95 JS(Château Pichon-Longueville) The 2010 Pichon-Longueville is also quite ripe at 13.75 percent alcohol, and includes a higher percentage of cabernet sauvignon than usual at seventy-nine percent in this vintage. However, with most of the merlot exiled to the second wine, the result is a more precise and focused wine than the Les Tourelles de Longueville, as it offers up a ripe and pure nose of black cherries, cassis, coffee bean, cigar ash, herb tones, gravelly soils and a generous base of smoky new oak. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, complex and shows a very nice note of youthful cabernet tobacco leaf, with a fine core of fruit, ripe, well-integrated tannins and excellent length and grip on the chewy and slightly oaky finish. The 2010 Pichon-Baron was raised in eighty percent new wood this year (with thirty percent hailing from Taransaud), and the wine is currently showing just a bit of oak spice and uncovered wood tannins on the backend. I expect that this is just a reflection of the extreme youth of the 2010 and that it will eventually absorb its wood seamlessly. This will be a very long-lived wine and will need plenty of time in the cellar to start to blossom. (Drink between 2022-2075)John Gilman | 92+ JG