Bordeaux Wines

wines

The nose on this already suggests a deep and contemplative wine with blackberry, dried flowers and sweet berries. Evolves to black olive and hints of asphalt. Full-bodied, with supersilky tannins and tangy, rich fruit. It really grabs hold of you and wants to tell you it’s special. Loads of ripe tannins too. Big and structured. Turns to tapenade.Wine Spectator | 97-100 WSProprietor Denis Durantou has produced a blockbuster Pomerol from a blend of 85% Merlot and 15% Cabernet Franc, tipping the scales at just over 14.5% natural alcohol. A riveting wine, pure, elegant, but at the same time, extremely powerful and concentrated, with stunning texture, opulence and density, the tannins are abundant, and the wine certainly in need of a decade of cellaring. Fabulous creme de cassis and cherry liqueur notes are intertwined with hints of licorice, truffle, and graphite. Full and rich, but still in an infantile state of development, this wine needs to be cellared for 10 years but should keep for five decades or more. This 2009 is absolutely profound.Robert Parker | 99+ RPThe 2009 l’Eglise-Clinet was picked 14 to 28 September and matured in 80% new oak. It remains remarkably youthful on the nose, rendering the brilliant 2010 a bit introverted by comparison. This comes racing out of the blocks with ebullient red cherries, crushed strawberry and raspberry fruit, touches of dried rose petal and melted tar. With aeration there is just a touch of liquorish. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannin that belies the arching structure underneath. It manages to retain awesome power and yet deliver a refined finish that feels long and tender. Stunning. Tasted at the l’Eglise-Clinet vertical at the château in April 2018.Vinous Media | 97 VMAromas of dark fruits, hazelnut and dark chocolate, follow through to a full body, with velvety tannins that are polished and refined. Beautiful depth of fruit to this. Best in 2018.James Suckling | 96 JS

This is a crazy nose of tangerines and blueberries, with raspberries and mushroom and berries. Full-bodied, with ultra fine tannins. This wine is all about texture, with phenomenal tannins and subtle fruits that just make you think. Evocative. It is layered, yet changes all the time. I can’t believe it really. Speechless. Amazes me. Try in 2020.James Suckling | 100 JSAn absolutely prodigious blend of 55% Cabernet Franc and 45% Merlot, the 2009 Lafleur displays the tell-tale characteristics of this great estate. Kirsch liqueur, licorice and floral notes are intermixed with raspberry in a very full-bodied, super-intense, opulent and multi-dimensional style. Extraordinarily dense and pure, but not heavy by any means, the intensity, texture, and richness of the 2009 Lafleur are reminiscent of the perfect 1982. Anticipated maturity: 2018-2040.Robert Parker | 99 RPThe 2009 Lafleur (55% Cabernet Franc and 45% Merlot) is an incredible wine in the vintage, not due to its concentration or richness, but due to its purity, finesse, and elegance! Revealing a deep ruby/purple color and perfumed notes of black raspberries, violets, forest floor, and spring flowers, this seamless Pomerol hits the palate with full-bodied richness, a layered, multi-dimensional, weightless texture, and ultra-fine tannin. With perfectly integrated oak, a perfumed, complex style, and no hard edges, it’s as sexy and seamless as it gets. If this wine doesn’t put a smile on your face, I can’t imagine what would. It’s already impossible to resist (it blossoms with time in the glass) but I suspect it will cruise in the cellar for another 2-3 decades.Jeb Dunnuck | 98 JDThe 2009 Lafleur is intense on the nose with darker fruit than the 2009 Ausone: freshly tilled earth, touches of pressed rose petals and a subtle ferrous scent, involving and quite mercurial. The palate is medium-bodied with succulent ripe tannin, velvety smooth and a cashmere texture. A mixture of blue and black fruit laced with spice leads to a very composed but powerful finish that lingers for 60+ seconds. This is only just beginning to show what it can do. Tasted blind at Farr Vintners’ 2009 Bordeaux tasting.Vinous Media | 97+ VMThis gushes with mouthwatering blueberry, boysenberry and blackberry fruit, leading to a long black tea– and incense-filled finish. Darkens up considerably as it airs, with layers of extra flesh, Kenya AA coffee and charcoal notes striding through the finish. Shows an exotic side, and gorgeous mouthfeel. Best from 2015 through 2030. 950 cases made.Wine Spectator | 95 WS

A blend of 63% Cabernet Sauvignon and 37% Merlot, it displays an inky/blue/purple color as well as a big, sweet nose of creme de cassis, forest floor, licorice, lead pencil, cedar and subtle barrique smells. Viscous and full-bodied, it is the most concentrated and broadest example of this cuvee I have tasted in over three decades. It will be ready to drink in 5-7 years and should last for three decades or more. Consumers looking to maximize value should be checking out Duhart Milon, as this may be the single smartest purchase in this great and historic vintage!Robert Parker | 97 RPTalk about value, the 2009 Duhart-Milon is straight up sensational stuff. Made from 63% Cabernet Sauvignon and 37% Merlot, it gives up classic notes of blackcurrants, pencil shavings, saddle leather and smoked herbs, it’s full-bodied, deep and concentrated, with fine tannin, impeccable balance and a great, great finish. It’s a heavenly bottle of wine that will compete with the best out there. Buy this wine!Jeb Dunnuck | 97 JDThe 2009 Duhart-Milon is recalcitrant on the nose, refusing to give much away in terms of aromas. Loamy, peaty scents emerge with time amongst the black fruit. The palate is medium-bodied with grippy tannin, fresh in the mouth with good salinity. There is something estuarine about this Pauillac that lends it personality and its grip on the finish suggesting that it will give many more years of drinking pleasure. This has long been an impressive Duhart-Milon and so it is proven here. Tasted blind at Farr Vintners’ 2009 Bordeaux tasting.Vinous Media | 95 VMThis is superb, with so much beautiful subtle fruit and wonderful flowers. Full and very lively, with super fine tannins and a lively finish. Very exciting. Best ever from here. Try in 2018.James Suckling | 95 JSA rounded wine, its tannins submerged into the ripe fruits. It feels soft, and there is just a bite of alcohol. The structure is soft, generous, opulent.Wine Enthusiast | 93 WEThis takes a fleshy, rather toasty approach, showing roasted plum and black currant fruit, with a smoked mesquite note on the loam-tinged finish. There’s more breadth than depth, but this has the latent minerality to last a long time in the cellar. Best from 2015 through 2027.Wine Spectator | 92 WSEnticing nose of ripe hedgerow fruits. Svelte, concentrated, with robust tannins to balance the sweetness of fruit, plus graphite and liquorice. Structure is disguised but it’s clearly there. Potentially very fine. Judges: Steven Brook, Alun Griffiths MW and Steven Spurrier.Decanter | 91 DEC(Château Duhart Milon) The 2009 Duhart Milon is a mini version of the Lafite this year and any fan of Lafite would be well-served to track down a goodly supply of the 2009 Duhart Milon as well. The bouquet is deep, pure and enchanting, as it delivers a beautifully perfumed blend of cassis, dark berries, espresso, tobacco ash, gravel and plenty of luxe, nutty new oak. On the palate the wine is deep, full, pure and complex, with impeccable focus and balance, ripe, suave tannins and really fine length and grip on the classy finish. (Drink between 2018-2040)John Gilman | 90-91+ JG

I have had this wine now four separate times since I wrote my official review after bottling of the 2009s. It goes from strength to strength, and it is not surprising that it is now one of the perfect wines of this great, great vintage – the finest vintage of Bordeaux that I have tasted in 37 years covering that epicenter for world-class quality in wine. Much of it is attributable to winemaker Véronique Sanders and her boss, Robert Wilmers. Their incredibly draconian selection process and their enormous investments in both the viticulture and the estate as well as the winemaking facility have paid off brilliantly over the last decade. The 2009, which has an opaque ruby/purple color, an extraordinary nose of high-quality unsmoked cigar tobacco, graphite, blackcurrants and spice, hits the palate with a medium to full-bodied, saturated and rich mouthfeel, but an elegant and ethereal quality that is difficult to articulate. It is rich, complex and tastes as if it were the vinous equivalent of a remarkable haute couture creation from the late Coco Chanel. It is full-bodied yet elegant, powerful yet delicate, and remarkably velvety-textured, sumptuous and loaded with upside potential. It can be approached now, as most 2009s tend to be, given their richness of fruit, low acidity and extraordinary concentration, but the great complexity that will emerge from this fabulous terroir is at least a decade away, and this wine is set for 50 or more years of longevity. Kudos to Haut-Bailly!Robert Parker | 100 RPI continue to think the 2009 Château Haut-Bailly is the finest wine from this estate to date. It exemplifies the inherent elegance and finesse of this terroir while offering an incredible level of richness and depth, revealing a ruby/plum hue as well as a smorgasbord of black cherries, red currants, lavender, unsmoked tobacco, truffle, and flowery incense. Every bit as sensational on the palate, this full-bodied Haut-Bailly has a flawless, layered, multi-dimensional texture, beautiful mid-palate depth, and again, just off-the-charts elegance and finesse. It needs an hour in a decanter if drinking any time soon and has another 30 years of prime drinking ahead of it. Hats off the team of Véronique Sanders for this legendary Graves.Jeb Dunnuck | 100 JDRight from the first moment you look at this wine you can see that it remains young, concentrated and full of life. Clear smoked caramel on the nose, the texture is supremely silky and seductive, creamy in a way that sits against the taut precision of most vintages of Haut-Bailly and yet still maintaining control and poise. The aromatics are young and seductive, and the terroir has not yet fully overtaken the vintage expression, but it will do in another five or six years. A huge success. Drinking Window 2020 - 2050.Decanter | 98 DECAromas of blackberries, wet earth and mushrooms, follow through to a full body, with a solid core of fruit. Velvety and delicious, yet wonderfully structured. Muscular wine. Best ever? Try in 2018.James Suckling | 97 JSSmooth and opulent, this immediately appeals with its generous fruit and texture that feels like velvet. The structure sits under the seductive surface, with a chocolate wood flavor, fruit tannins and density. Age for over 10 years at least.Wine Enthusiast | 95 WEThe 2009 Haut-Bailly has a well defined bouquet. Black cherries, redcurrant, iris flower and light blood orange scents, are focused and yet controlled beautifully, considering the precocity of the growing season. The palate is medium-bodied with fleshy ripe red and black fruit, charcoal and sage. Touches of hickory and black pepper appear towards the open-knit finish. I wonder how this will age as there are more secondary notes on the close than expected...but it remains a lovely Haut-Bailly. Tasted at the Haut-Bailly vertical at the château.Vinous Media | 94 VMOffers a rich, very dense feel, but stays racy thanks to a strong graphite frame around the core of roasted fig, plum sauce and maduro tobacco. Muscular but defined on the finish, with a long tarry edge in reserve. This shows serious depth and is more backward than most of its peers. Should really stretch out nicely in the cellar. Best from 2017 through 2035. 6,665 cases made.Wine Spectator | 94 WS(Château Haut-Bailly) I did not love the 2009 Haut-Bailly in its very earliest days in bottle, as the wine struck me as borderline overripe in personality. This, of course, was not an impression that was exclusive to the Haut-Bailly in this vintage, as many of the other 2009s also seemed to show overt signs of sur maturité to me in the first few years after bottling. However, when I last was served a bottle of this wine, it was most assuredly moving in the right direction! Today, the 2009 Haut-Bailly is one of my favorite wines from this vintage in the Graves, as the estate did a very nice job of sidestepping any potential issues with overripeness. The deep and chocolaty nose wafts from the glass in a stylish blend of black cherries, plums, chocolate, tobacco leaf, lovely soil tones and a nice framing of vanillin oak. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and quite plush on the attack, with a fine core, plenty of ripe, well-integrated tannins and impressive length and grip on the focused and nascently complex finish. A lovely example of the 2009 vintage, which is still a year I most emphatically do not love on the Gironde, as I find the 2008s across the board far more interesting to my palate. (Drink between 2020-2060).John Gilman | 90 JG

If you want to drink a Margaux 2009 any time soon, you need to go for the Pavillon - the grand vin is still extremely young, holding back its power and impact for another five or 10 years time. It’s still closed up enough to hint rather than reveal. The smooth, silky tannins are joined by blackberry and cassis fruit with a great sense of vibrancy and concentration, and some tingling minerality with a pulse of electricity. There’s a latent generosity here, a slow confidence that builds through the palate as the flavours layer up, yet it’s clear that there’s still lots to be revealed, particularly the hints of violet and peony florality that just peek through on the finish. This is very, very good - up with the best ever from this estate. 31% of production went into this wine, and it has the same amount of Cabernet Sauvignon as in 2005. 2% Petit Verdot completes the blend. Drinking Window 2022 - 2046Decanter | 100 DECA brilliant offering from the Mentzelopoulos family, once again their gifted manager, Paul Pontallier, has produced an uncommonly concentrated, powerful 2009 Chateau Margaux made from 87% Cabernet Sauvignon and the rest primarily Merlot with small amounts of Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. As with most Medocs, the alcohol here is actually lower (a modest 13.3%) than most of its siblings-. Abundant blueberry, cassis and acacia flower as well as hints of charcoal and forest floor aromas that are almost Burgundian in their complexity are followed by a wine displaying sweet, well-integrated tannins as well as a certain ethereal lightness despite the wine’s overall size. Rich, round, generous and unusually approachable for such a young Margaux, this 2009 should drink well for 30-35+ years.Robert Parker | 99 RPThis marathon runner is currently in the no-man’s land between youthful vitality and mellow maturity. There’s a very serious tannin structure here, but it needs a lot longer to fully resolve. Very tight and closed. A perfect wine usually. But not today. Try in 2020. (Horizontal Tasting, London, 2019).James Suckling | 99 JSA massive wine for Margaux, packed with tannins and ripe fruit. It has more Cabernet Sauvignon than usual, giving intense black currant flavors with enticing acidity balanced by the sweetness of the fruit. Ripe swathes of this opulent fruit are also elegant and structured.Wine Enthusiast | 98 WEThe 2009 Château Margaux is intense and powerful on the nose with blackberry, forest floor, graphite and rose petals that unfurls with aeration. The palate is medium-bodied with fine grain tannin, impressive density and plenty of freshness, perhaps more than the 2009 Mouton-Rothschild. There is a genuine Pauillac-like drive to this Château Margaux thanks to the Cabernet Sauvignon, clearly a First Growth destined for long-term ageing. 13.1% alcohol. Tasted blind at Farr Vintners’ 2009 Bordeaux tasting.Vinous Media | 97 VMThis offers gorgeously caressing fruit, with steeped plum, blackberry and red currant notes, finely embroidered with accents of rooibos and black tea, tobacco leaf, alder and sandalwood. Delivers loads of fruit, with the structure already melded into the core of fruit--but that’s the vintage style. A stunner, though I still find the ’10 a full step ahead.--Non-blind Château Margaux vertical (December 2013). Best from 2018 through 2035.Wine Spectator | 97 WS(Château Margaux) The 2009 Margaux is again, very, very ripe, but never strays over the line. The bouquet is deep and flamboyant, as it offers up scents of black cherries, cassis, dark chocolate, cigar smoke, fine soil tones and plenty of spicy new wood. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and black fruity, with a firm core of ripe fruit, low acids, fine focus and impressive length and grip on the beautifully balanced and ripely tannic finish. This is a very well-made, low acid and big-boned Margaux that will need a good decade in the cellar to start to blossom and should provide a solid forty year window of peak drinkability. A fine result. (Drink between 2020-2060)John Gilman | 93-94 JG

I’ve been lucky enough to have the 2009 Château Palmer numerous times over the past handful of years, and it continues to be a primordial yet heavenly wine every time, revealing a deep purple color as well as an incredibly powerful bouquet of blackcurrants, black cherry liqueur, smoked tobacco, graphite, crushed stone, and chocolate. Possessing full-bodied richness and a massive, dense, incredibly powerful style (not far off the 2018), it gains elegance and finesse with time in the glass, has ultra-fine tannins, and one hell of a finish. This magical Palmer needs another decade to hit maturity and will evolve for 50+ years or more.Jeb Dunnuck | 99 JDDeep garnet colored, the 2009 Palmer delivers a beguiling array of black fruit—warm plums, cassis and black cherry compote—with kirsch and wild sage sparks plus profound suggestions of fragrant earth, black truffles, iron ore and liquid licorice. Full-bodied, rich and decadently seductive in the mouth, the generous fruit is superbly framed with plush tannins and seamless freshness, finishing long and mineral laced.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 98 RPBursting with potential for decades of enjoyment as it just hovers around its drinking window at 11 years old. Still extremely young, with fleshy black damson fruits that settle in and deepen through the mid palate. As with the last time I tasted this just over 18 months ago, the violet and peony notes swirl out of the glass as it opens. The texture is velvet, with grain and depth to it, and a smoky edge alongside chocolate and mint. It’s so young still, it will go and go and lives up to some of the best Palmers on record, with generous fruits matched by natural tension and tannic grip. This won the audience award at the virtual tasting. Thomas Duroux had been at the estate for five years at this point. Drinking Window 2020 - 2045.Decanter | 98 DECThis has such class and power. Aromas of blueberries and blackberries, with hints of violets. Full-bodied, with polished tannins and a juicy finish. Solid and extremely pretty. Fabulous finish. Try in 2020.James Suckling | 98 JSA beautiful wine, with the firmest tannins surrounded by perfumed fruit. It is dense, of course, but this density is balanced with great elegance, blackberry fruits, sweetness and final juicy acidity. The wine is structured, a powerhouse of concentration while preserving this complete style.Wine Enthusiast | 98 WEThe 2009 Palmer has a beautifully defined bouquet with bright black cherry and boysenberry fruit, crushed stone and rose petal. Not as decadent as the bottle poured at the BI tasting, yet precise. The palate is medium-bodied with supple and refined tannin, and crisp acidity. Wonderfully poised with quite a penetrating finish that delivers a payload of multi-layered blueberry and blackberry. This is a very well crafted 2009 Margaux destined for long-term ageing. Tasted blind at Farr Vintners’ 2009 Bordeaux tasting.Vinous Media | 96 VMThis is on another level from most in the appellation, with gorgeous layers of warm currant confiture, smoldering tobacco, licorice snap, warm paving stone and anise all framed by tarry but integrated grip. Stays sleek and well-defined through the finish. Should age beautifully. Best from 2015 through 2030. 9,500 cases made.Wine Spectator | 95 WS(Château Palmer) The 2009 Palmer is borderline overripe, but manages to just hold itself together and will provide some pretty dramatic early drinking, but I seriously doubt it has the structure to carry it deep into the future. The nose is a very ripe blend of blackberries, black cherries, chocolate, damp earth and luxurious, nutty new oak. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, suave and sappy, with good mid-palate depth, soft tannins, low acids and a long, complex and seductive finish. This is cut very much in the same style as the 2009 Lafite, and while it is admirably done in this style, it will never rank up in the upper range of my personal hierarchy of great vintages at Palmer. But a very well made wine in its style. (Drink between 2018-2040)John Gilman | 90-92 JG

The finest Batailley I have had in many years, the dense purple-colored 2009 exhibits a boatload of tannin as well as sweet, caramelized, black currant fruit intermixed with hints of charcoal, cedarwood and smoke, a full-bodied mouthfeel and the aforementioned high, but sweet, well-integrated tannin displaying no jaggedness. Batailley often requires considerable patience as it can be one of the longest-lived Pauillacs. Atypically for Batailley, the 2009 should be ready to drink in 5-7 years and keep for three decades.Robert Parker | 94 RPA rich yet dry Pauillac that’s now very attractive to drink and has a good harmony in spite of the generous alcohol. Long, supple finish. Drink or hold. (Horizontal Tasting, London, 2019)James Suckling | 93 JSThis wine showed exceptionally well, both at the the Bordeaux 10 Years On tasting in London a few weeks ago and in the Decanter Premium tasting in New York. It’s great value for this level of Pauillac. Drinking Window 2019 - 2040Decanter | 93 DECSmooth black currant fruit with great density as well as superripeness. The wine is charming, while still having a powerful structure. Still a relative value in Pauillac, Batailley is now showing real class.Wine Enthusiast | 93 WEThe 2009 Batailley seems a little closed on the nose at first and needs more encouragement than its peers, eventually unfurling with cedar and graphite infused black fruit, slightly earthy in style. The palate is medium-bodied with fine definition, quite linear and poised with a touch of cracked black pepper on the finish. Excellent. Tasted at BI Wines & Spirits’ Ten Year On tasting.Vinous Media | 92 VM(Château Batailly) The 2009 Batailly has really turned out well and is clearly one of the candidates for sleeper of the vintage on the Left Bank. The nose is deep and classy, as it offers up scents of cassis, tobacco leaf, gravelly soil tones, smoke, espresso and a deft framing of cedary wood. On the palate the wine is deep, medium-full and poised, with fine intensity of flavor, ripe tannins, lovely focus and a fine, classic profile on the long and bouncy finish. This is old school Pauillac in the best sense of the word. (Drink between 2017-2040)John Gilman | 90-91 JGA chewy core of black currant, tobacco and roasted apple wood stretches out through the grip-framed finish. Fresh acidity rides underneath to keep it all lively. A solid version, with a throwback hint. Best from 2013 through 2023.Wine Spectator | 91 WS

The 2009 Ducru Beaucaillou will eclipse the brilliant wines produced in 2005, 2003 and 2000. It will be interesting to see how the 2009 fares against the 2010 after twenty years of aging, but my money is on the 2009. A blend of 85% Cabernet Sauvignon and 15% Merlot that achieved 13.5% natural alcohol, this inky purple, unctuous wine possesses classic aromas of graphite, creme de cassis, blueberries, violets, licorice and Christmas fruitcake. Full-bodied and intense with Ducru’s inimitable elegance and purity, it should firm up in the bottle after 7-10 years of cellaring and last for 40-50 years. Magnificent!Bruno Borie has done a remarkable job at Ducru Beaucaillou.Robert Parker | 100 RPProbably one of my most consistent 100 pointers, I’ve been lucky enough to taste through close to a case of this beauty and it’s never failed to just utterly blow me away. Still purple-hued with maybe just a hint of lightening around the edges, the 2009 Château Ducru-Beaucaillou offers an incredible bouquet of black currants, white truffle, cassis, lead pencil shavings, tobacco, and a hint of flowers. A good portion of its baby fat has melted away, and it’s full-bodied and elegant on the palate, with silky tannins, incredible depth of fruit, and a gorgeous finish. This is pure elegance and finesse paired with richness and texture. A quintessential Bordeaux, drink bottles any time over the coming 40-50 years. It actually reminds me of the 1982, only better!Jeb Dunnuck | 100 JDRich, powerful and intense, this is still inky in colour at 10 years, barely out of the starting gate. It’s a wonderful wine, full of pleasure, still fresh and young, with cinnamon and saffron spice, eucalyptus, menthol-edging, and drenched in dark, juicy fruits. Great stuff, with the clear ability to power on for decades. Drinking Window 2020 - 2044Decanter | 98 DECThe 2009 Ducru-Beaucaillou has a killer bouquet with wonderful definition: blackberry, wild hedgerow, minerals and touches of pressed flower. This has just lost some of its puppy fat in recent years. The palate is medium-bodied with fine-grain tannin, taut and quite linear, lightly spiced with a firm grip but plenty of elegance towards the finish. This is an outstanding Ducru-Beaucaillou that is only just beginning to show what it can do. That said, having tasted the 2016, I think that is even better. Tasted at the château.Vinous Media | 97 VMFeatures plenty of flash and sizzle, with gorgeous, inviting mocha, espresso and chocolate notes up front, backed by a dense core of plum sauce, cassis, blackberry puree and blueberry reduction accents. Long, showing terrific polish, with a lovely lingering loam note and a buried singed apple wood edge that keeps everything driving through the finish. Best from 2016 through 2035.Wine Spectator | 96 WSBig and powerful, structured, with bitter chocolate and blackberry flavors. The wine is dense, the fruit enormous. But it does manage to keep freshness.Wine Enthusiast | 96 WEThis is a rich, powerful, concentrated and well-structured wine, but in comparison to recent vintages (from 2014) this comes off slightly heavy on the mid-palate. However, I love the balance at the ripe and generous finish. Drink or hold. (Horizontal Tasting, London, 2019)James Suckling | 95 JS(Château Ducru-Beaucaillou) The good news is that the 2009 Ducru-Beaucaillou was raised in ninety percent new wood this year and shows no signs whatsoever of over-oaking. I would still love to see this very special terroir featured a bit more in the finished wine by returning to the old days, when a third new oak was deemed plenty sufficient for the grand vin, but the new wood is seamlessly woven into the tapestry of the wine this year. The bouquet is deep, pure and ripe, as it offers up an outstanding blend of dark berries, black currants, cigar smoke, gravelly soil tones, tobacco leaf and a discreet base of nutty oak. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and beautifully reserved, with a rock solid core of fruit, firm, ripe tannins and outstanding length and grip on the chewy and beautifully focused finish. This is a very traditionally made bottle of Ducru, with the vintage’s power beautifully harnessed. Superb wine. (Drink between 2030-2075)John Gilman | 92-94+ JG

As I wrote in my barrel tasting note, the 2009 appears to be the finest Gruaud Larose since their 1990. Some of my concerns about too much brett in previous vintages are long gone as the purity of the 2009 jumps out. Copious notes of sagebrush, cedar, cigar box, licorice, incense, blackberries and lead pencil shavings suggest a big Pauillac rather than a St.-Julien. Broad, rich and full-bodied with good balance and abundant, but sweet, well-integrated tannin, this big, masculine Gruaud Larose reveals remarkable finesse, richness, extract, density and a cascade of fruit that nearly hides the lofty tannins. This beauty should be at its best between 2020-2045.Robert Parker | 95 RPThe 2009 Gruaud Larose has a fresh, backward, tightly coiled bouquet with ample blackberry and bilberry fruit, fine tension and focus, a nose that is intending to last the distance (and why not?) The palate is very well balanced with a fine bead of acidity, fresh and vibrant, laced-like tannin with a wonderfully detailed and persistent finish. This is some quality winemaking here and it is a wonderful 2009 Saint-Julien. Tasted blind at Farr Vintners’ 2009 Bordeaux tasting.Vinous Media | 95 VMI like the aromas of sliced mushroom, berries and wet earth, that follow through to a full body, with super silky tannins and a chewy finish. A fit, yet polished wine here. Try after 2020.James Suckling | 95 JSSmoky grilled oak on the nose is joined by some tarry hints. The palate is structured and ambitious, and will take a good few more years to come around. I would go for Branaire or Lagrange as my picks of classified St-Juliens to open soon, but this is an extremely good quality wine that is going to age very well. Drinking Window 2019 - 2036.Decanter | 94 DECVanilla new wood aromas, followed by sweet wood and sweet fruit. There is certainly enough weight here, with ripe, smooth texture and fresh blackcurrants.Wine Enthusiast | 94 WEThis has good density, with fleshy blackberry and blueberry cobbler flavors laced with anise, sweet spice and smoldering maduro tobacco notes. Long and well-structured, with fresh, embedded acidity. Best from 2013 through 2023. 14,500 cases made.Wine Spectator | 92 WSThe 2009 Gruaud Larose is a fine example of the vintage in the making. The bouquet is deep, ripe and promises quite a bit of structure in its mélange of cassis, black cherries, tobacco leaf, espresso, gravelly soil tones and spicy new oak. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, complex and quite buttoned down behind its structural elements, with a rock solid core of fruit, firm tannins and impressive acidity on the long, focused and tangy finish. This will take at least a decade to blossom, but should prove to be a fine vintage of Gruaud. (Drink between 2020-2060)John Gilman | 89-91 JG

The 2009 was not part of this vertical tasting, so I am repeating the tasting note published in issue #199 of The Wine Advocate from a tasting done in January, 2012.A candidate for the wine of the vintage, the 2009 La Mission-Haut-Brion stood out as one of the most exceptional young wines I had ever tasted from barrel, and its greatness has been confirmed in the bottle. A remarkable effort from the Dillon family, this is another large-scaled La Mission that tips the scales at 15% alcohol. A blend of equal parts Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot (47% of each) and the rest Cabernet Franc, it exhibits an opaque purple color as well as a magnificent bouquet of truffles, scorched earth, blackberry and blueberry liqueur, subtle smoke and spring flowers. The wine’s remarkable concentration offers up an unctuous/viscous texture, a skyscraper-like mouthfeel, sweet, sumptuous, nearly over-the-top flavors and massive density. Perhaps a once-in-a-lifetime La Mission-Haut-Brion, the 2009 will take its place alongside the many great wines made here since the early 1920s. The good news is that there are nearly 6,000 cases of the 2009. It should last for 50-75+ years. Given the wine’s unctuosity and sweetness of the tannin, I would have no problem drinking it in about 5-6 years. The final blend was 47% Merlot, 47% Cabernet Sauvignon and 6% Cabernet Franc.Robert Parker | 100 RPThe 2009 La Mission Haut-Brion has a wonderful, extravagant bouquet with a slight medicinal note (not apparent on the bottle poured blind the following week) infusing the precocious red fruit, all beautifully defined with star anise and bayleaf developing. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannin, very well judged acidity, precocious in style with a long finish that maintains that medicinal leitmotif. Wonderful. Tasted at BI Wines & Spirits’ Ten Year On tasting.Vinous Media | 97 VMAs with its sibling, Haut-Brion, you immediately get a sense of the generosity of the year here. It has a striking nose with touches of kirsch, black cherry, liquorice and dark chocolate, while the exoticism of 2009 is clear in the plush, ripe, fleshy and velvet-textured fruit. It’s gourmet and well built, with plenty of life ahead of it. On the finish, a slate character does an excellent job of lifting everything up together, bringing a sense of balance and a welcome savoury bite. Exceptionally good. Drinking Window 2020 - 2042Decanter | 97 DECDark, cool and sleek, this is a very sophisticated wine with great structure and polished tannins that’s just beginning to give its best. The cassis and blackberry fruit is brightest on the long finish and that suggests this has great aging potential. Drink or hold. (Horizontal Tasting, London, 2019).James Suckling | 97 JSSuch a generous and ripe wine, with a dark core of tannins surrounded by opulent fruit. Black fruits, coffee, very concentrated flavors, a powerhouse of structure and richness. The warmth of the wine is palpable, as is the aging potential.Wine Enthusiast | 97 WEThis is forcefully rendered, with dark tar, espresso and chocolate up front, backed by dense layers of fig sauce, currant reduction and smoldering black tea leaves. There’s dense flesh and great drive on the finish, which has serious grip. Best from 2016 through 2035. 6,000 cases made.Wine Spectator | 96 WS

The 2009 Larcis Ducasse is an exotic, flamboyant wine endowed with remarkable depth and pure pedigree. Sweet tobacco, mint, pine and red-fleshed fruits are front and center. Even with all of its voluptuousness and richness, the 2009 is firm and quite tannic. Readers should be prepared to cellar it for at least a handful of years.Antonio Galloni | 96 AGShowing better than a previous bottle, the 2009 Larcis Ducasse is just now starting to come into its own, offering terrific, full-bodied aromas and flavors of blackcurrants, licorice, espresso, and leafy herbs. This deep, rich, full-bodied effort has absorbed its oak élevage beautifully, has a layered, unctuous texture, and plenty of sweet tannin. It’s a heavenly Saint Emilion to enjoy over the coming 15+ years.Jeb Dunnuck | 96 JDA complex set of aromas ranging from coffee to forest floor, herbs, licorice, blackberries, cassis and cherries all seem to jump from the glass, and then are joined by a hint of charcoal as well camphor. This is an impressive, full-bodied, dense, concentrated wine that is more up-front and approachable than the 2005 was at a similar stage, but it is remarkably expressive, full-bodied, dense and capable of lasting 20-25 years.Showing better from bottle than it did from barrel, this wine comes very close to equaling the prodigious 2005 that was produced by consultants Nicolas Thienpont and Stephane Derenoncourt. Cropped at 25 hectoliters per hectare from the limestone hillsides of this terroir, the final blend was 81% Merlot and 19% Cabernet Franc that tipped the scales at 14.6% natural alcohol. It is a brilliant sample of wine, as this has long been one of the great terroirs of St.-Emilion, but under-exploited until nearly a decade ago.Robert Parker | 96 RPThis has rich, sexy layers with powerful black pepper, olive, liquorice notes and crushed berry fruits. This is the most 'Right Bank' of the vertical, but still with the mouthwatering salinity and foot-on-the-break feel, giving a clear expression of the two sides of Larcis - clay power with limestone austerity. Brilliant. 55% new oak was used. Drinking Window 2019 - 2044Decanter | 95 DECTons of ripe plum and damson here plus some bitter chocolate and balsamic richness that fill out the opulent body nicely. Generous supple tannins support the massive frame. Bold but long and harmonious finish. Drink or hold. (Horizontal Tasting, London, 2019)James Suckling | 94 JSThis has the fleshy, almost corpulent feel of the vintage, with enticing linzer torte, currant preserves, blackberry coulis and melted licorice notes. Warm and inviting already, with a nice sappy feel at the core. The finish picks up a slightly extracted, chewy edge that lacks the vivacity of the '05 or '10. Although well-stuffed and worthy of cellaring, the minerality may have dissipated by the time this comes of age.—Larcis Ducasse non-blind vertical (December 2012). Best from 2015 through 2025. 2,500 cases made.Wine Spectator | 93 WS

Green olives, spices and currants on the nose. Full body, with velvety tannins and a juicy finish. Lovely layers of ripe tannins and ripe fruit. Best after 2018.James Suckling | 93 JSI clearly underrated this wine from barrel. The finest wine made at this estate since 1982, this opaque black wine is a sleeper of the vintage, with oodles of blackberry fruit interwoven with hints of charcoal, forest floor, licorice and damp earth. Deep, rich, chewy, full-bodied and opulent, this is a fabulous Meyney that, because of its low acidity and very ripe tannin, can be drunk in 3-4 years or cellared for two decades. Bravo!Robert Parker | 92 RPThe 2009 Meyney marks the point where I believe the wines become more interesting. The nose features ample red berry fruit, red plum, raspberry preserve and sloes mixed with Christmas cake and earthy aromas. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannins, and quite Haut-Marbuzet in style, leading to a lush but very nicely structured, lightly spiced finish that reveals cracked black pepper on the aftertaste. This is definitely worth seeking out. Tasted at a vertical at Château Meyney.Vinous Media | 92 VM

The 2009 Gruaud Larose is blended of 68% Cabernet Sauvignon and 32% Merlot. Medium to deep garnet colored, it charges forth with warm black raspberries, crème de cassis and redcurrant jelly notes with touches of potpourri, cigar box, new leather, hoisin and molten chocolate. Medium to full-bodied, the palate is packed with black fruits and savory layers with a firm, grainy texture and seamless freshness lifting the long earth-laced finish.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 95 RPA spicy and fat rich wine, atypical of Bordeaux. There is grip and depth of flavour here with blackcurrant coulis and some lovely menthol edging. A balanced wine. (Drink between 2016-2024)Decanter | 90 DEC

What a nose. You see the chocolate, orange peel, sweet tobacco. Goes to milk chocolate and dark chocolate. Full-bodied, with fine tannins and round tannin structure. Creamy texture. Like the great 1995. Sweet and beautiful. Try in 2016.James Suckling | 95 JSThe second wine, the 2009 Le Clarence de Haut-Brion, is almost as large a cuvee as the grand vin. This 7,000-case cuvee is a blend of 46% Merlot, 39% Cabernet Sauvignon and the rest small quantities of Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc. Once again the burning ember/scorched earth characteristic that often comes from Haut-Brion is found in the second wine, along with more kirsch and cassis, fewer nuances and less complexity than its bigger sibling. The wine is full-bodied with the minerality offered by this terroir as well as plenty of sweet tannins. This is the finest second wine Haut-Brion has produced since the astonishing 1989 Bahans-Haut-Brion. Enjoy it over the next two decades.Robert Parker | 92 RPThe 2009 Clarence de Haut-Brion has a refined and elegant bouquet with pure red fruit, undergrowth, clove and leather, perhaps just a little brettanomyces becoming more obvious with aeration. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannin, rounded in texture with truffle and leather infused red fruit. There is fine grip on the finish and it should continue to age extremely well in bottle. Tasted blind at Farr Vintners’ 2009 Bordeaux tasting.Vinous Media | 92 VMThis delivers the textbook profile of the appellation and vintage, with dense but mouthwatering tar, cassis, blackberry, bay leaf and dark cocoa notes all melded together and driving through the grippy finish. Approachable, but better with some time. Best from 2013 through 2023. 6,665 cases made.Wine Spectator | 92 WSThe second wine of Haut-Brion, the 2009 Le Clarence Haut Brion checks in as 46% Merlot, 39% Cabernet Sauvignon and the balance Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. Offering a classic bouquet of blackcurrants, scorched earth, roasted herbs and earthy, gravely nuances, this beauty is broad, expansive and full-bodied on the palate, with ample depth, density, and structure. There’s no harm drinking bottles today, yet it has two decades of longevity ahead of it as well.Jeb Dunnuck | 92 JDA rich wine, with soft, juicy tannins, some spice, the tannins dry at the center. Good structure, touch of wood.Wine Enthusiast | 90 WE

One of the greatest young wines I have ever tasted, the monumental 2009 Cos d’Estournel has lived up to its pre-bottling potential. A remarkable effort from winemaking guru Jean-Guillaume Prats and owner Michel Reybier, this blend of 65% Cabernet Sauvignon and the rest Merlot (33%) and a touch of Cabernet Franc (2%) was cropped at 33 hectoliters per hectare. It boasts an inky/black/purple color along with an extraordinary bouquet of white flowers interwoven with blackberry and blueberry liqueur, incense, charcoal and graphite. The wine hits the palate with extraordinary purity, balance and intensity as well as perfect equilibrium, and a seamless integration of tannin, acidity, wood and alcohol. An iconic wine as well as a remarkable achievement, it is the greatest Cos d’Estournel ever produced. It is approachable enough at present that one could appreciate it with several hours of decanting, but it will not hit its prime for a decade, and should age effortlessly for a half century.Robert Parker | 100 RPAnother magical wine from this property, the 2009 Château Cos D’Estournel reminds me slightly of the 2005 with its incredibly rich, powerful, opulent style married to stunning finesse and elegance. Still youthful yet with a touch of maturity, its deep ruby/plum color is followed by classic Saint-Estèphe notes of blackcurrants, dried tobacco, loamy earth, Asian spices, and licorice. Deep, full-bodied, and massive on the palate, it’s flawlessly balanced and has building tannins hiding under its wealth of fruit, with no hard edges and a great, great finish. This tour de force is still 5-7 years away from maturity and is a legendary wine to follow over the coming 40-50 years.Jeb Dunnuck | 100 JDA very bold, ripe and complex wine with excellent concentration and a warm, engaging personality (cinnamon and allspice) that’s hard to resist. With aeration a hint of dried fruit character emerges. Massive, yet polished finish. It’s been rated 100 in the past. We will see. Drink or hold. (Horizontal Tasting, London, 2019).James Suckling | 98 JSThis shows why everyone loves the vintage. Features a gorgeous display of perfectly melded plum, red currant and blackberry fruit that flows beautifully over very creamy tannins. Still nearly all fruit, with flecks of warm stone and iron on the finish. This could easily sit in this phase for some time, but will be hard to resist. Totally modern and beautifully done.—Non-blind Cos-d’Estournel vertical (December 2015). Best from 2020 through 2040. 20,830 cases made.Wine Spectator | 97 WSA hugely rich wine, where the tannins seem initially lost in the overwhelming fruit. It has power and concentration, showing its alcohol a little. There is great intensity, but an edge of Portiness from the super-rich fruit.Wine Enthusiast | 95 WEIntense, pureed damson fruit aromas remind me of its impact at En primeur, although then it was a little overblown. The terroir is starting to come through now, but the fruit still feels a touch overripe and overly concentrated, not enabling the juiciness that the clay soils of St-Estèphe should be highlighting. It’s still extremely young with a great life ahead of it, so this is one to put away for a while longer and give that terroir more of a chance to exert itself over the vintage character. Drinking Window 2020 - 2038Decanter | 93 DECThe 2009 Cos d’Estournel has an expansive and undeniably seductive bouquet, a mélange of red and black fruit, cold slate, damp earthy bordering on mulch-like aromas all delivering with ample freshness and certainly better delineation that it showed in its infancy. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannins, quite rich in style, decadent with a sweet core of fruit that is attractive but very un-Bordeaux like. Cos d’Estournel? Plush but bereft of intellect. Tasted blind at Farr Vintners’ 2009 Bordeaux tasting.Vinous Media | 91 VM

An amazing wine in every sense, this classic, full-bodied Pauillac is the quintessential Pontet Canet from proprietor Alfred Tesseron, who continues to reduce yields and farms his vineyards biodynamically – a rarity in Bordeaux. Black as a moonless night, the 2009 Pontet Canet offers up notes of incense, graphite, smoke, licorice, creme de cassis and blackberries. A wine of irrefutable purity, laser-like precision, colossal weight and richness, and sensational freshness, this is a tour de force in winemaking that is capable of lasting 50 or more years. The tannins are elevated, but they are sweet and beautifully integrated as are the acidity, wood and alcohol (which must be in excess of 14%). This vineyard, which is situated on the high plateau of Pauillac adjacent to Mouton Rothschild, appears to have done everything perfectly in 2009. This cuvee should shut down in the cellar and re-open in a decade or more. Anticipated maturity: 2025-2075.Robert Parker | 100 RPA consistently perfect wine every time I’ve had it, the 2009 Château Pontet-Canet is the greatest wine from this address to date as well as one of the greatest Pauillacs out there. Still youthfully ruby/purple and with a gorgeous perfume of blackcurrants, lead pencil, graphite, crushed rocks, and damp earth, it’s still youthful but is just now starting to show more nuance and complexity. Full-bodied on the palate, with a powerful, concentrated mid-palate, incredible depth of fruit, and flawless balance, Bordeaux simply does not get any better. You couldn’t have too much of this in the cellar, and this magical wine is going to drink brilliantly for another 50 years or more.Jeb Dunnuck | 100 JDA superb wine, with the purest fruit, great freshness and ripeness. It is certainly structured with dry tannins, but the blackcurrant freshness is all there. The wine has a great limpid, flowing feel, lbut also power.Wine Enthusiast | 99 WEStunning aromas of fresh flowers, with blueberries, blackberries and currants that follow through to a full body, with super balance and finesse. The tannins are super polished. Such class here. Best ever from here. From biodynamically grown grapes. Try in 2018.James Suckling | 98 JSThis is amazingly expressive now considering how huge it is, with stunning espresso and warm fig confiture aromas followed by lush layer after layer of blackberry paste, cassis and plum sauce. A terrific loam underpinning strides in on the finish, which is weighty but sports serious cut. Equal parts fruit and earth. Best from 2018 through 2038. 26,665 cases made.Wine Spectator | 96 WSThe 2009 Pontet-Canet needs more encouragement from the glass than its peers, but it rewards the imbiber with seductive pure cassis and blackberry fruit, touches of autumn leaves and pencil box. The palate is medium-bodied with firm but fine tannin, a lovely bead of acidity. A harmonious, brown spice and smoke tinged finish fans out with confidence. You could open this now but it still has two more decades of drinking pleasure to give. Tasted blind at Farr Vintners’ 2009 Bordeaux tasting.Vinous Media | 95 VMSumptuous black-fruits nose, vividly aromatic, as well as minty, stylish, and toasty. Very rich, broad, full-bodied and generous, with very ripe tannins and a lot fo spice. Perhaps slightly lower acidity than usual but has punch and persistence all the same. Approachable, just, but will benefit from more age. Good length with a chewy but not astringent finish. Drinking Window 2018 - 2035Decanter | 95 DEC

A little darker and deeper in colour than the 2009 at this stage, but both remain young, fresh and full of promise. The depth to the fruit is evident, black cherry, chocolate shavings and black truffles with great shots of acidity through the entire body of the wine. Just dripping with succulent fruit and seduction, this is the most Pomerol of the lineup, surprisingly, perhaps, taking that crown from the 2009. Still young even at 11 years old, will settle in and open further over the next few years. Violet aromatics curl out of the glass as it opens. 85% new oak. A yield of 39hl/ha. (Drink between 2021-2044)Decanter | 98 DECBeautiful nose with cocoa powder, exotic flowers, candied violets and loads of dark berries. Great aromatic complexity. Amazing texture on palate with a superb precision and silky tannins. So beautifully composed showing already great harmony. Difficult to wait! Better in 2018.James Suckling | 98 JSThe 2010 La Conseillante has a magnificent bouquet with pixelated black fruit laced with cedar and pencil lead aromas. It is a penetrating and multi-faceted bouquet that just blossoms with aeration. The palate is supremely well balanced with filigree tannins and immense purity, very sustained and conveying immense energy on the finish. Surely the best La Conseillante under former winemaker Jean-Michel Laporte. Tasted from an ex-château bottle at the BI Wines & Spirits 10-Year On tasting.Vinous Media | 97 VMThe 2010 La Conseillante is a tour de force that will rival the 2005, 2000 and 1990 at maturity. Just loaded with notions of blackcurrants, damp earth, tobacco leaf, violets and toasty oak, it hits the palate with full-bodied richness, building, ripe tannin, and a huge finish. Sexy and opulent, yet also classy and elegant, it’s a sensational Pomerol that has another three decades of life ahead of itJeb Dunnuck | 97+ JDA brilliant effort from this property, known for the sheer elegance and finesse of its wines, the 2010 La Conseillante offers back-to-back monumental efforts, particularly given the remarkable 2009. This estate has been on a hot streak of late. The 2010 is a slightly bigger, richer wine, but without losing its floral, elegant mulberry, black raspberry and sweet kirsch notes. Combine those with some licorice, subtle new oak and a hint of forest floor, and the result is a medium to full-bodied, rich, complex wine that has striking aromatics and perfect balance in the mouth. Forget it for 3-5 years and drink it over the following 30.Robert Parker | 96 RPFeatures substantial but very velvety structure running from start to finish, delivering a muscular feel for now. The hard edges are fully absorbed by the core of plum sauce, steeped blackberry and warm boysenberry reduction notes. The finish offers gorgeous tobacco and ganache accents lurking in the wings, along with flickers of anise and incense that should guide this version to increased elegance with age. Best from 2016 through 2034. 4,000 cases made, 800 cases imported.Wine Spectator | 96 WSThe tannins are huge, very dense, packing through the ripe fruit. At first it tastes like a mouthful of wood and fruit tannins, then the potential of the fruit becomes apparent. That gives a wine with a great, final acidity and finish.Wine Enthusiast | 94 WE(Château La Conseillante) Despite the 2010 La Conseillante tipping the scales at 14.5 percent alcohol, this wine seems decidedly cooler and more poised than its 2009 counterpart did a year ago. The blend this year is made up of eighty percent merlot and twenty percent cabernet franc. The lovely bouquet is deep, pure and shows no signs of overripeness in its mélange of black raspberries, black cherries, chocolate, gravelly soil tones, smoke and a very judicious base of new oak. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, suave and tangy, with lovely focus and mid-palate depth, moderate, ripe tannins and excellent length and grip on the classy finish. One can certainly sense that the folks at La Conseillante were very careful not to over-extract the wine in 2010, and the result is one of the best, “hot vintage” La Conseillantes that I can ever recall. A superb wine. (Drink between 2020-2060)John Gilman | 93+ JG

A wine with great beauty and finesse. Such elegance and ethereal quality for this estate. Full body, with ultra-fine tannins and a juicy delicious finish. Long and beautiful. This is the best Lynch in a long, long time. I love the precision here. Try in 2018.James Suckling | 98 JSStill a saturated ruby-black in hue, the 2010 Lynch-Bages offers up aromas of rich cassis fruit mingled with hints of pencil shavings, loamy soil and cigar wrapper. Full-bodied, deep and muscular, it’s rich and layered, with a concentrated core of fruit that’s framed by firm, powdery tannins and lively acids. The most brooding, backward Lynch-Bages of the decade and one of the real successes of the vintage, this is a vibrant, tightly wound wine that is still an infant at age 10. Readers with bottles in their cellars might try one now out of curiosity, but this 2010 won’t begin to hit its stride until age 20.Robert Parker | 97 RPDeep inky purple in colour, this is a majestic Pauillac to be savoured by Bordeaux lovers. Again we are far from it being ready to drink and the tannins continue to be dominant, although not hiding the layers of rich earthy loam, slate, pencil lead and concentrated cassis that lie underneath. It’s impressive and built, muscular, taut and architectural. An excellent reflection of what 2010 brought to the wines in this corner of the Médoc. It’s not the most enticing for drinking today; give it another few years to soften and open further, or really allow it to have a good four to five hours in a carafe. But there is no mistaking the future of this wine. Drinking Window 2022 - 2050.Decanter | 97 DECRoasted cedar, tobacco and bay leaf notes start off this structured but lively bottling, with intense currant, blackberry and black cherry flavors at the core. The iron-laced grip and pleasantly austere plum pit and licorice snap accents fill in on the tar-tinged finish. Great range, character and typicity. If you ever need to explain Pauillac to someone, give them this. Best from 2018 through 2037. 25,000 cases made.Wine Spectator | 96 WSThis sumptuous wine is driven by perfectly ripe fruit as well as dense, dusty and dry tannins. Great swathes of blackberry sweep across the palate, followed by juicy acidity. Such a combination will make this impressive wine a delight to drink in 10 years and beyond. *Cellar Selection*Wine Enthusiast | 96 WEThe 2010 Lynch-Bages has a stunning bouquet with pixelated black fruit, crushed stone and graphite aromas that soar from the glass. This is just amazingly focused. The palate is medium-bodied with concentrated black fruit curiously tinged with cough candy, which here I find just a bit out of place. The acidity is extremely well judged and there is immense persistence on the finish. Bold, brassy and ambitious, this is an extremely impressive wine, although I suspect that there are better bottles out there. Tasted blind at Farr Vintners 10-Year On Bordeaux horizontal.Vinous Media | 95 VM(Château Lynch-Bages) The 2010 Lynch-Bages is one of the stars in the Left Bank this year, as the Cazes family has fashioned a superb and perfectly balanced example of the vintage. The deep and complex nose soars from the glass in a mélange of cassis, dark berries, espresso, cigar ash, a touch of lead pencil, gravel, leafy young cabernet tones and cedar. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, complex and most impressively soil-driven, with a fine core of pure fruit, excellent focus and balance, bright, well-integrated acids and fine length and grip on the ripely tannic and beautifully delineated finish. A fine, fine vintage for Lynch-Bages. (Drink between 2022-2075)John Gilman | 94+ JG

One of the best second wines, and possibly the best since the 1990 is the 2010 La Dame de Montrose. This represents 36% of the production and is a blend of two grapes – 64% Cabernet Sauvignon and 36% Merlot. A superb second wine, opulent and substantively textured, it shares more in common with a flamboyant, exuberant year such as 2009 than most 2010s. Dense purple, its oodles of fruit, luxurious mouthfeel and terrific finish make it a sleeper of the vintage. It’s a wine to buy in abundant quantities and drink over the next 10-15+ years.Robert Parker | 94 RPWonderful aromas of blueberries, spices and chocolate with a hazelnut undertone. Creamy texture. Full and very fine with lovely texture and spices and berries. Currants too. Long and gorgeous. Second wine of Montrose. Try in 2016.James Suckling | 93 JSMontrose’s second wine has something of the same gravity as the top wine from the estate. It shows firm tannins as well as black currant fruits. These flavors are followed by spice, leather and drying tannins. It does have a sense of elegance that promises well for its mid-term aging,Wine Enthusiast | 93 WEA vintage where you can explore second wines with great confidence. An excellent wine, with a real signature of its big brother, with dark brambly fruits and tight tannins, barely unfurling, it grips the side of your mouth, and needs a good hour or so in a carafe if you are going to drink it in the next few years. I tried the third wine from 2010 also, Le St-Estèphe de Montrose, and while it captures the intense spice of La Dame, it lacks its length and roundness. Drinking Window 2015 - 2030Decanter | 92 DECA textbook example of the vintage and appellation, showing a bright savory edge, a chalky spine and mouthwatering damson plum, red currant and cherry pit notes. Displays enough grip to warrant short-term cellaring, and should stretch out well over the mid-term. Best from 2015 through 2024.Wine Spectator | 91 WS(La Dame de Montrose) The 2010 La Dame de Montrose weighs in at 13.7 percent alcohol, which is plenty ripe, but the wine is impressively precise and pure for its octane. The deep and sappy nose offers up scents of sweet cassis, black cherries, gravelly soil tones, cigar smoke, a touch of violet and a discreet framing of cedar. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, complex and ripely tannic, with lovely balance, sound acids and very good length and grip on the finish. The 2010 La Dame de Montrose does not seem, at this early stage, to possess quite the same precision and mineral drive as the superb 2009, but it is very well-balanced and pure and may blossom with extended bottle age. (Drink between 2022-2060)John Gilman | 88-90+ JG

This is a magnificently solid wine, initially even a bit severe. At this young stage, the tannins dominate, but it’s also full of black fruit notes. Very dense and concentrated, this is a wine that’s even better than the legendary 2005. The structure tells of its extraordinary aging potential: don’t even attempt to drink this for 10 years.Wine Enthusiast | 100 WELove the depth and the power of this, it grips the walls of the glass. These tannins are muscular and yet ready to roll and still so powerful that you can’t help but smile. The cassis fruits are concentrated and layered with tobacco, slate, pencil lead and smoked earth. Hard not to recommend this wine. Drinking Window 2020 - 2042Decanter | 97 DECAromas of pure blackberries and violets follow through to a full body, with super velvety tannins and a delicious balance of sweet fruit, light vanilla and nuts. Really savory and beautiful. Superb wine. I like this better than 2009. Try in 2018.James Suckling | 97 JSTakes a modern approach, with dark mocha- and espresso-infused toast leading the way, featuring an extra ganache kicker before dark currant preserves and roasted plum fruit strides in. Dense and extracted through the polished finish, this features a charcoal spine that gives rise to extra blueberry and pastis notes. Should cruise in the cellar. Best from 2018 through 2038. 13,750 cases made.Wine Spectator | 96 WSThe 2010 Léoville Barton is cut from a very different cloth to the Langoa this year with more amplitude on the nose and more red fruit. It is very well delineated, very intense with almost honey-like aromas emerging with time. The palate is medium-bodied with succulent, ripe tannins. This is a multi-dimensional Léoville-Barton with tobacco-infused black fruit gripping the finish and not letting go. Afford this wine another few years in bottle. Tasted from an ex-château bottle at the BI Wines & Spirits 10-Year On tasting.Vinous Media | 95 VMThe 2010 Leoville Barton is deep garnet in color, and the nose is a little tired, with notes of stewed plums and dried cherries over hints of balsamic, tobacco, spice box and fried herbs. The medium to full-bodied palate has a solid backbone of firm, chewy tannins and plenty of freshness supporting the mature fruit, finishing spicy.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 91 RP

The wine has an opaque blue/black color and abundant notes of forest floor, spring flowers, black raspberry and blueberry liqueur in the aromatics along with hints of espresso and white chocolate. The wine is dense, full, rich, unctuously textured and very full-bodied, with its extravagant glycerin, fruit and extract covering the wine’s somewhat tannic structure. This is a bigger, more restrained and structured wine than the outrageously flamboyant and prodigious 2009. Give it 5-8 years of cellaring and drink it over the following 30-40 years.This property has been on fire, qualitatively speaking, for well over a decade. Another compelling effort from the Cuvelier family, the 2010 Clos Fourtet is a blend of 87% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon and 3% Cabernet Franc that came in at 14.5% alcohol. Yields were modest at 31 hectoliters per hectare. The harvest was late, starting at the very end of September and not finishing until the beginning of the third week of October.Robert Parker | 98 RPThe 2010 Clos Fourtet has a well defined and focused bouquet with tarry black fruit, black pepper and tobacco notes, almost equidistant between Left and Right Bank in style. The palate is medium-bodied with firm tannins, supple and underpinned by a fine bead of acidity. Very harmonious towards the finish with well-integrated oak, this is a superb Saint-Émilion. Tasted blind at Farr Vintners 10-Year On Bordeaux horizontal.Vinous Media | 95 VMVery winey, with a saturated, sappy feel as kirsch, blackberry preserves and blueberry coulis notes tumble around, while the frame of charcoal, smoldering tobacco and licorice root keeps them penned together. The tannin structure is significant, but very refined, and that should carry this through extended cellaring while the aromatics and midpalate develop harmony. Best from 2016 through 2030. 4,167 cases made.Wine Spectator | 95 WSA beautiful wine, with everything in the bottle. Blackberries, minerals and blueberries. Full and silky. Long, long finish.James Suckling | 93-94 JSThis chunky, fruity wine is full bodied and rich. It shows all the structure and weight of the vintage allied to ripe black fruits and a dense texture edged with minerality. Still very firm and youthful, it will need many years to mature.Wine Enthusiast | 94 WE

I certainly underrated the 2010 Pape Clement from barrel, rating it only 93-95+. (Thank God I put a “plus” there!) Having tasted it four times in Bordeaux, and rating it perfect three times and 99 the fourth time, this final blend of 51% Merlot, 47.5% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 1.5% Petit Verdot is perfection in a bottle. Tipping the scales at 14.5% natural alcohol, there are 8,000 cases of it. Its sublime elegance, the power, the medium to full-bodied texture, the silky tannins, the subtle notes of smoke, lead pencil shavings, black currants, charcoal, camphor, blueberry and cassis fruit are all remarkable. It is a rich, full-throttle wine, but the elegance and the great terroir of Pape Clement come through in abundance. It is slightly more developed and evolved than the 2005 was at a similar point in its evolution, but it certainly needs another 5-7 years to develop further nuances, which it surely will. This wine will last 30-40+ years.Kudos to proprietor Bernard Magrez, who has built an empire based on high quality more than any other characteristic.Robert Parker | 100 RPIntense blueberry nose with great precision and expression. Full and vibrant on the palate with a minty note. Vanilla. Wonderful structure. Firm but ripe tannins and very long. Needs time to soften. Great potential. Try in 2016.James Suckling | 96 JSThe 2010 Pape Clément has a gorgeous bouquet with vibrant red berry fruit, camphor, raspberry preserve and just a hint of marmalade - very seductive and classy. The palate is medium-bodied with lithe tannins and good density, as you would expect. Whilst a little grainy in texture it feels structured with tarry black fruit, although I would have liked to see a touch more persistence on the aftertaste. As such, leave it for another three or four years because it has a lot of potential. Tasted from an ex-château bottle at the BI Wines & Spirits 10-Year On tasting.Vinous Media | 95 VMNicely toasty, with a lovely broad stroke of mocha and ganache spread over the velvety core of plum sauce, blackberry coulis and steeped currant fruit. The long, polished finish keeps a tarry thread running along with the fruit, adding length and range. Not shy on style. Best from 2018 through 2035. 7,966 cases made.Wine Spectator | 95 WSA smooth, dense wine, ripe and polished. It brings out a modern view of Bordeaux, dark and concentrated, hinting at the new-wood aging. At the same time, the wine has a serious edge that promises proper aging.Wine Enthusiast | 95 WEPape Clement was still all about shoulders and pecs at this point; and even at 10 years old this is a serious beast. There is a lovely elegant uptick through the finish, offering a counterpoint to black chocolate shavings, black olive, cut herbs, rosemary and cinnamon, just full of spice and power. It’s a good wine, no question; if not particularly signature Pessac. Drinking Window 2020 - 2042Decanter | 93 DEC(Château Pape Clément) The 2010 Pape Clément has turned out very well indeed, and while I would still prefer to see it in the guise of an unabashed champion of traditionalism, it is hard not to enjoy the more modern rendition in the context of its success in this challenging vintage in the Graves. The ripe nose is deep, complex and classy, as it offers up scents of black cherries, cassis, Cuban cigars, soil tones and plenty of spicy new oak. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and very suave on the attack, with impressive complexity, good depth at the core and very good length and grip on the fairly tannic finish. Today the new oak obtrudes a bit on the finish, but one hopes that there is sufficient stuffing to carry the wood tannins along with those from the skins. I am still not convinced that the new style here is an improvement upon the old, but this is at least very well done in 2010. (Drink between 2020-2060)John Gilman | 90+ JG

The 2010 is a more structured, masculine and steely version of the utterly compelling 2009. Tasting like black raspberry confiture with subtle notes of graphite and crushed chalk along with enormous floral notes, the wine displays a slightly smoky character but a voluptuous attack, mid-palate and finish. Its is full-bodied and massively endowed, with every component perfectly etched in this extraordinary wine, which should be drinkable after 7-8 years of bottle age and last for a half-century or more. This is brilliant stuff. Composed of 73% Merlot, 23% Cabernet Franc and 4% Cabernet Sauvignon from yields of 21 hectoliters per hectare, the alcohol is the highest ever registered at Beausejour-Duffau, coming in at 15%, but remarkably, the pH is modest and the acids relatively elevated, giving the wine an astonishing freshness and precision that is hard to believe in view of its power, density and length. Anticipated maturity: 2025-2055+.Anyone who has read this publication or visited St.-Emilion knows that this is a magical terroir capable of great things. It was only fully exploited in the past in the 1990 vintage, but has reached more consistently great heights over the last three or four years. Kudos to the duo of Nicolas Thienpont and Stephane Derenoncourt for what they have achieved over the last few years at Beausejour-Duffau.Robert Parker | 100 RPClearly the best wine from here since 1989 or 1990. The intensity of dark fruits is insane with citrus and flowers as well as dark fruits. Full and lively with a finish that lasts for minutes but it is dense and impressive.James Suckling | 98-99 JSThe Left Bank character of this St-Émilion wine is on full display. Concentration and depth, liquorice root and dark bitter chocolate. This is intense and the tannins remain just a little impenetrable. An impressive wine that speaks of its terroir and is packed with estate signature. Will age extremely well (I enjoyed a 100 year old wine from Larcis Ducasse in 2019, and wouldn’t bet against this one making the grade). 60% new oak. Drinking Window 2022 - 2045Decanter | 97 DECVivid ruby. Captivating aromas of blackcurrant, red cherry, sweet spices and minerals are complemented by a strikingly pure violet nuance. Enters the mouth lush and concentrated, offering sweet dark berry and coffee flavors lifted by notes of black pepper, graphite and Asian spices. Turns more austere on the back half but remains very pure, hinting at uncommon depth and complexity. This classic, elegantly styled BDL finishes long and crisp, with very polished tannins and floral and mineral echoes.Vinous Media | 95 VMA beautiful, floral-tinged style, with a delightfully expressive core of kirsch and linzer torte that bursts forth, while lots of red licorice, bergamot, black tea and blood orange notes fill in the remaining space. This has terrific range, with a long, creamy finish as well, but don’t be fooled, there’s serious grip in reserve and should cruise in the cellar. Best from 2015 through 2030.Wine Spectator | 95 WSA solid and dense wine, showing the big improvements at this château. It hovers deliciously between acidity and ripe, forward fruit. The touch of smokiness from the wood aging goes with the fragrant, juicy black cherry and berry fruits. The wine will certainly age over many years.Wine Enthusiast | 94 WE

Dense ruby/purple, it tips the scales at 15% natural alcohol and was bottled unfined and unfiltered. Full-bodied in texture, it offers up loads of blueberry, blackberry and raspberry fruit intermixed with some cedar, vanilla and a touch of spring flowers. Impressively built, with good acidity and light tannin, this is a superb example of wine that reaches its prime in 3 or 4 years and lasts two decades. It’s right up there with their brilliant 2005.From an estate owned by Dominique and Florence Decoster, this wine has been a real treasure to follow over the last decade. Another over-achieving, brilliant effort from the Decosters, the 2010 from their 45-acre vineyard is a blend of 70% Merlot and the rest equal parts Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon.Robert Parker | 95 RPThis for me has a better balance than the 2009, same alcohol but here it is effortlessly eaten up by the rich dark fruits, with cassis, blueberry, bilberry and blackberry all apparent, with texture and juice. It’s gourmet, with a black chocolate, slightly bitter edge, even with traces of menthol as the Cabernets take the lead here. Small yield at 36hl/ha. Harvest October 18 right through to November 5, which sounds extreme but bear in mind this is the cooler section of the plateau back towards the border with Castillon and these soils take longer to fully ripen their grapes. Drinking Window 2019 - 2044.Decanter | 94 DECBlack ruby. Superripe, sexy aromas of blackberry pastille and blueberry. Creamy-sweet-verging-on-confectionery, but with harmonious acidity giving shape and energy to the wine's superconcentrated dark fruit and floral flavors. Best today on the broad, energetic finish, which features substantial ripe, fine-grained tannins and slowly mounting floral persistence. A knockout.Vinous Media | 94 VMWow. This shows an impressive richness on the nose of cappuccino, ripe berries and dried flowers. Full body with velvety tannins and a fine finish. Rich and delicious. Harmonious and luscious. So delicious now but better in 2017.James Suckling | 93 JSThis is rich and very plush, but really pure as well, with gorgeous macerated cherry, cassis and blackberry preserves flavors gliding along, carried by remarkably polished tannins. Flecks of bergamot, blood orange and apple wood fill in on the finish, with a fine minerality buried as well. This should be lovely after some cellaring. Best from 2015 through 2030. 6,083 cases made.Wine Spectator | 93 WS

(Château Beauregard, Pomerol, Bordeaux, France, Red) Tighter and more chewy than the 2009, less ready to drink - the two are perfect reflections of their vintage. I love this, it’s the most Pomerol to date in terms of its plush tannins and texture, and its throbbingly dark chocolate-laced fruits. Feels silky and seductive, but still with the balance and mouthwatering final finish that Beauregard does so well. Needs a carafe if drinking soon because there is still austerity here. (Drink between 2021-2044)Decanter | 95 DECWonderful aromas of blueberries, blackberries and dark chocolate. Full-bodied, with polished and juicy tannins and a long finish with a gorgeous depth of fruit and spices. Best Beauregard in years. Better in 2018.James Suckling | 94 JSOn of my favorite Beauregards in many a year, this vintage is very sexy and lush, with caramelized mocha, chocolate, black cherry fruit, some loamy soil notes, sweet tannins and a voluptuous, fleshy, succulent mouthfeel. It is nearly impossible to resist at present and should continue to drink well for at least another 12-15 years.Robert Parker | 91 RPLush fig and raspberry fruit gives this a palate-coating feel, with dark spice, melted red licorice and black tea filling in on the finish. Inviting, warm and succulent, featuring an elegant structure. Drink now through 2017. 4,333 cases made.Wine Spectator | 90 WS