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Beginning to open magnificently, the still dense purple-colored 2000 reveals a blossoming bouquet of blackberries, cassis, graphite and pen ink. Full-bodied with velvety tannins that have resolved themselves beautifully over the last eleven years, this wine is still an adolescent, but it exhibits admirable purity, texture, mouthfeel and power combined with elegance. One of the all-time great examples of Lynch Bages, the 2000 is just beginning to drink well yet promises to last for another 20-25+ years.Robert Parker | 97 RPThis has a dense but well-defined core of currant and fig paste flavors supported by a gorgeous graphite spine. Long and authoritative, with notes of bay, pepper, leather and juniper slowly emerging on the finish. Terrific structure and integration give this a chiseled feel. No rush here.--Blind 2000 Bordeaux retrospective (December 2015). Drink now through 2033.Wine Spectator | 96 WSFinally rounding the corner, the 2000 Château Lynch-Bages is mature, with classic Pauillac darker currants, lead pencil, tobacco leaf, and spice-laced aromatics. With a deep plum color and slight lightening at the edges, it’s medium to full-bodied and has a layered texture as well as integrated tannins. A classic, elegant, yet still powerful Lynch-Bages, it delivers plenty of sweet fruit and a great finish. It benefits from an hour of air and will certainly hold at this stage for another 10-15 years with no issues.Jeb Dunnuck | 95 JDAnother wonderful 2000 coming out of its long sleep. Beautiful aromas of berry, tobacco, herb and spice that follow through to a full palate with round, textured tannins and lots of fruit.James Suckling | 95 JSTypical of Lynch-Bages in its sumptuous rich style, this is a resounding success for the team of Jean-Michel Cazes. With its sweet fruit, opulent but balanced wood and red and black fruit flavors, it is a wine that will develop relatively quickly but will certainly age.Wine Enthusiast | 95 WE71% cabernet sauvignon, 16% merlot, 11% cabernet franc and 2% petit verdot; 5.5 g/l total acidity; 13.3% alcohol): Deep ruby-red. Knockout aromas of blackcurrant, blackberry, mocha and cedar complicated by scorched earth and tobacco. Big, ripe and dense, with flavors similar to the aromas and a seamless, rich texture. Though powerful and rich, with a sensual mouthfeel, it maintains a graceful, light-on-its-feet quality. Finishes with ripe, fine-grained tannins and excellent length. Still an infant, but clearly a great vintage for this property.Vinous Media | 94+ VMNo written review provided. | 92 W&S

A classic in development, a wine that will last for decades. It is certainly powerful, but already the shape is finalized, with its plums and berries settling down with perfumes, acidity, just enough tannins and a warm, welcoming richness. A great argument for the superiority of 2001 over 2000.Wine Enthusiast | 97 WEThe 2001 Léoville Las Cases is simply stunning. I was fully prepared to decant it given that Las Cases is almost always a brute in its youth. And make no mistake about it, a twenty year-old Las Cases is still a youngster. Quite frankly, I am not at all prepared for the sheer intensity and richness that emanates from the glass. No decanting needed. The 2001 is simply magnificent upon opening. A rush of generous inky blackberry jam, spice, graphite and leather conveys superb textural intensity. Time in the glass helps the aromatics come alive. Shockingly rich and voluptuous, the 2001 is also wonderfully open today. Uncharacteristically so for Las Cases, in fact. But who’s complaining? Certainly not me.Even so, the 2001 is ultimately a mid-weight Las Cases, with plenty of opulent fruit, but not quite the tannic heft that is such a signature of this reference-point St. Julien. Readers lucky enough to own the 2001 are in for a real treat. This is an especially fine bottle, perhaps the finest I have come across. Aside from all the technical analyses and descriptors, what really matters most is that the 2001 is a wine that delivers immense drinking pleasure. I absolutely loved it.Antonio Galloni | 96 AGPencil lead, leather, smoked cedar and reserved but carefully sculpted cassis and bilberry fruit - this is Léoville-Las Cases showing its classicism in a vintage that is the home of balanced, nuanced and elegant wines. It continues to open and gather depth over 15 minutes in the glass, suggesting there is plenty of potential ahead, but the tannins have now softened and integrated into the overall structure. Grip and freshness runs right through the palate, and a Cabernet-dominated savouriness makes you salivate through the finish. Plenty of power at 21 years old. Beautiful dark fruits, a successful reflection of a vintage that still has plenty to offer. Drinking Window 2021 - 2044.Decanter | 95 DECA very typical Las Cases with a Pauillac note, even though it’s St.-Julien. Lead pencil, dried herb, currant and black olive. Medium-to full-bodied, firm and creamy with a long finish. It’s very persistent. Pretty austerity. Be sure to decant this a couple of hours in advance. Drink or hold.James Suckling | 95 JSComing from an underrated vintage in Bordeaux, the 2001 Château Léoville Las Cases is 69% Cabernet Sauvignon, 19% Merlot, and 12% Cabernet Franc that hit 13% natural alcohol with a pH of 3.7 and an IPT of 70. This was a milder, cooler year, and the 2001 offers a more complex, mature bouquet of cedary herbs, menthol, tobacco, lead pencils, and dried flowers, with a wonderful core of sweet red and black fruits. Medium to full-bodied on the palate, it has a wonderful mid-palate, sweet tannins, and a great finish. It's drinking at point today yet certainly has another 10-15 years of prime drinking.Jeb Dunnuck | 94 JDThe 2001 Léoville Las Cases is a blend of 69% Cabernet Sauvignon, 19% Merlot and 12% Cabernet Franc. Medium to deep garnet colored with a touch of brick, it charges out of the glass sporting energetic notes of kirsch, blackberry preserves and blackcurrant pastilles with underlying scents of star anise, cumin seed, potpourri, oolong tea and tobacco leaf plus a waft of incense. The medium-bodied, exquisitely elegant palate explodes with a myriad of exotic spice, floral and dried berries notes, framed by soft tannins and seamless freshness, finishing long and with impeccable poise and sophistication.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 94 RPA long, refined beam of gently mulled black currant and plum fruit is inlaid liberally with a smoldering charcoal note, while tobacco, ganache and warm paving stone accents form the background. A touch reticent through the finish, with the charcoal edge winning out. Shows lovely cut and length.—Blind '01/'03/'05 Bordeaux retrospective (December 2017). Best from 2020 through 2035. 11,667 cases made.Wine Spectator | 94 WSNo written review provided | 93 W&S

A fabulous GPL. Perhaps better than the legendary 1982? It shows laser-guide precision on the palate with aromas of currants, cedar, mint, flowers and chocolate. Full-bodied and extremely finely textured on the palate, lasting for minutes. A joy to drink now. Get some.James Suckling | 97 JSMedium red. Very ripe aromas of plum and musky brown spices; redder in character and less precise than the 2006. Then big, sweet and plump on the palate, with full, mellow flavors of red berries, tobacco and mocha, plus a light smoked meat note. Finishes with sweet tannins and lingering, fully ripe fruit. This is showing its lush side today and is hiding its underlying structure.Vinous Media | 93 VMHas subtle blackberry, licorice and currant on the nose, with hints of mint. Full-bodied, with silky tannins and a very pretty texture. Caresses everything. Refined and balanced. A beautiful wine that’s hard to keep your hands off now. Best after 2012. 14,165 cases made.Wine Spectator | 93 WSPure crème de cassis, licorice and spice are all present in this wine from Xavier Borie. Medium to full-bodied and ripe, with sweet tannin and a nicely textured mouthfeel, this is a beauty that should continue to drink well for another 15 or so years.Robert Parker | 92 RPNo written review provided. | 90 W&S

The 2009 Les Forts de Latour is engaging and quite complex on the nose with blackberry, bilberry, hints of brine and freshly rolled tobacco, all very well delineated and gaining vigor with aeration. The palate is medium-bodied with fine but firm tannin that frame layers of black fruit laced with pencil lead and tobacco, very convincing on the finish that has one of the longest lengths of any Pauillac in this flight. Excellent. Tasted blind at Farr Vintners’ 2009 Bordeaux tasting.Vinous Media | 96 VMDeep and dark with a ton of smoke and earth, the cassis fruit very much in the background, this is a concentrated and complex wine. Powerful yet racy palate with an elegant mineral finish. Drink or hold. (Horizontal Tasting, London, 2019)James Suckling | 96 JSPossibly the best second wine ever made at Latour (and I love how the 1982 is drinking at age 30), the 2009 Les Forts de Latour is composed of two-thirds Cabernet Sauvignon and the rest Merlot blended with a tiny dollop of Petit Verdot, and finished at 13.5% alcohol. Juicy notes of creme de cassis, licorice, camphor, smoke and crushed rocks are followed by a rich, unctuously textured, thick, juicy, exceptionally pure, long wine. This beauty will be at its finest in several years and should keep for three decades.Proprietor Francois Pinault and his director, Frederic Engerer, have pulled out all the stops to produce one of the most monumental Latour’s ever made.Robert Parker | 95 RPMint aromas hint at the wood, but more important is the massive Merlot fruit that is an essential element in the blend. The result is a wine that blends richness and power with an initially severe character. Slowly it opens to reveal opulent blackberry jam flavors, immensely ripe.Wine Enthusiast | 95 WEMore muscular and closed than the Petit Mouton, here the tannins are beautifully flexed, with real purity of fruit and lovely texture. It’s excellent quality, showing focus and a sense of poise and purpose. A brilliant wine, and one that will age well. These first-growth second wines in 2009 are amazing! Drinking Window 2019 - 2038Decanter | 94 DECThis has purity and precision, with mouthwatering blackberry, black currant and steeped plum fruit racing along, nicely laced with graphite and studded with enticing ganache and iron notes through the finish. Sleek, but the grip is there. Best from 2014 through 2028. 10,830 cases made.Wine Spectator | 93 WS(Les Forts de Latour (barrel sample)) The 2009 Forts de Latour is the spitting image of the grand vin, as it is deep, pure complex, broad-shouldered and quite structured. The bouquet is a very fine, quite reserved mélange of black cherries, dark berries, tobacco leaf, a great base of complex, gravelly soil tones and cedary wood. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and tight, with a rock solid core of fruit, plenty of ripe tannins, very good acidity for the vintage and a very long, firm and classy finish. A superb Forts de Latour in the making (Drink between 2022-2050)John Gilman | 90-91+ JG

A very classic wine for patient connoisseurs, Sociando Mallet makes no compromises and continues to produce one of the finest wines among non-classified estates in Haut-Medoc. Dense purple to the rim, the opaque purple-colored 2010 offers up notes of graphite, blueberry and black raspberry fruit, a hint of cassis, some licorice and wet rocks. Deep, full-bodied and almost excruciatingly tannic, this full-throttle, balls-to-the-wall style of wine needs at least 8-10 years of cellaring and should keep for three decades or more.Robert Parker | 91+ RPThe 2010 Sociando Mallet has a well defined, pure bouquet with blackberry, bilberry and light estuarine scents that gently waft from the glass. The palate is medium-bodied with grainy tannins, a fine bead of acidity and good weight. It just needs more complexity and terroir expression on the finish. Give this another two or three years. This is one wine where I have encountered better bottles. Tasted blind at Farr Vintners 10-Year On Bordeaux horizontal.Vinous Media | 90+ VMLifted aromas of eucalyptus and menthol, with an initial attack of juicy dark fruit - but this drops on the mid-palate, and the tannins still feel a touch drying. Needs more time. Drinking Window 2019 - 2029.Decanter | 90 DEC