Pauillac Wines

wines

Blended of 97.1% Cabernet Sauvignon, 2.6% Merlot and 0.3% Petit Verdot, the deep garnet-purple colored 2015 Latour is exquisitely perfumed, displaying fragrant notes of crushed black cherries, raspberry preserves, cassis and black plums with nuances of roses, dark chocolate, garrigue, menthol and a waft of sandalwood. The medium-bodied palate beautifully struts its taut, toned, muscular fruit with a frame of very firm, smooth, rounded tannins and compelling freshness, finishing with alluring earth and mineral layers. At once intellectual and sexy, this truly evocative vintage brings to mind the Melanie Griffith line from “Working Girl," possessing a sultry “head for business and a bod for sin."Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 98 RPReally gorgeous aromatics, so perfumed, acutely aromatic, pristine, clear and precise with tobacco, cocoa, ash and liquorice. Round, heady, a sexy wine, with a lot to say, generous and open, smooth and layered - this deepens straight away vertically. I love the juiciness, there’s clarity to the raspberry, blueberry and blackcurrant fruit, sleek and joyful but the texture is there with a wet stone and liquorice to the tannins that gives such grip and edge of power. Still youthful and quite serious but there’s something so appealing about it with a sexy character and complexity. Bright and sharp but also with sweetness from the ripe vintage and savoury notes of truffle, cocoa, dark chocolate giving contrast. Such enjoyable floral violet scents too that follow the wine from start to finish. Excellently controlled and delivered with supreme appeal. One you want to sit with and take your time over, and then gulp down! 69 IPT, 30% of production. Harvest 15 september to 10 October. Technical director Hélène Genin.Decanter | 98 DECAromas of iron, oyster shell, rust and stones with blueberries and blackberries. Full-bodied, yet ever so polished and refined. It rolls off the palate with fruit and salty flavors. Tight, focused and always refined. Pretty length. 97% cabernet sauvignon gives this brightness. Drink in 2022.James Suckling | 98 JSSeriously structured and yet also so smooth, this wine has great concentration and powerful tannins. There is wonderful juiciness here as well as dense, dusty tannins that are never hard, always velvet. It is going to be a great wine when it is released in maybe 10 years time. The wine comes only from vineyards that are biodynamic.Wine Enthusiast | 98 WEThis packs some serious warm dark currant, fig and blackberry compote flavors together at the core, with charcoal, singed bay leaf, tobacco and roasted alder notes forming the foundation. Grippy for sure, but there’s already alluring perfume and violet elements weaving around here. This has put on some serious weight and dark fruit since the barrel tasting, but remains all tensile strength. It will be fun to watch this age. Best from 2025 through 2045.Wine Spectator | 97 WSThe 2015 Latour has a sensual, richer and more exotic bouquet than its peers, featuring plush red fruit intermingling with raisin and fig, although there is no sur-maturité here; the wine is just crafted in a more opulent style for this First Growth. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannin and a fine bead of acidity. This feels very cohesive and focused, and more saline than its peers. Veins of brown spice and leather surface toward the complex, engaging finish. I would have liked a little more length, but otherwise this is very fine. Tasted blind at the Southwold 2015 Bordeaux tasting.Vinous Media | 96 VM

So grand and so refined, this is a breathtakingly beautiful white Burgundy that lives up to the reputation of this legendary site, which is certainly not always the case! So creamy and silky, yet so precise on the expansive but precisely proportioned palate. Very long, super supple and delicate finish that just doesn’t want to stop. Drink or hold.James Suckling | 99 JSA deft dollop of wood frames the layered and mildly exotic aromas of passion fruit, white peach and viognier-like nuances that are trimmed in floral and citrus rind. There is a lovely sense of underlying tension to the delicious to the acceptably dense middle weight flavors that also exude a subtle minerality on the youthfully austere, complex and lingering finale where the only reproach is a touch of warmth.Burghound | 92-95 BHThe 2019 Montrachet Grand Cru is promising, bursting with notes of pear, white flowers, citrus oil and toasted bread. Full-bodied, ample and layered, it’s satiny and concentrated, with fine depth at the core and chalky grip on the finish.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 92-94 RPStarts with vanilla and toasty oak aromas and flavors wrapped around lemon cake, white flowers and mineral. Well-integrated and juicy, with fine balance and length. Best from 2024 through 2033. 250 cases made, 75 cases imported.Wine Spectator | 94 WS

The aromas to this are really amazing, with a potpourri of spices and dried flowers, as well as redcurrants, sweet plums and even some peaches. Full-bodied with layers of ripe fruit and ultra-fine tannins that spread across the palate in an encompassing yet always elegant and pure way. It’s succulent and unadulterated. Like crushed, perfectly ripened grapes. The length is rather endless. The tannins build. Fabulous young red. 35% in amphora and the rest in 50% new oak and 15% one-year oak. 65% cabernet sauvignon and 30% merlot, the rest cabernet franc and petit verdot. From biodynamically grown grapes. Try after 2028, but an absolute joy to taste now.James Suckling | 99 JSSuch gorgeous aromatics of freshly picked violets, cherries and bramble fruits - pretty and quite delicate. The texture is smooth and succulent, mouth coating but full of soft tannins which have the most delicious black cherry, blackcurrant flesh and liquorice tinge to them - so satisfying. Extremely well balanced and well integrated, this has restrained power, it’s not rich or particularly round but straight, direct and layered rather than wide. Really long finish with great freshness and touches of cool blueberries. This is just such a great wine, everything you want and you know there’s power there promising a long life. Great winemaking on show. 35% aged in concrete, 50% new oak, 15% in barrels of one year, for 16-18 months. This year there’s a new label, the drawing of the house has remained but the font is more elegant and modern. A blend of 57% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc and 5% Petit Verdot. (Drink between 2027-2047)Decanter | 98 DEC97–99. Barrel Sample. This is a luscious, sumptuous wine, with layers of black fruits and wonderfully cushioned tannins. The structure of the wine is initially masked by the great fruits, but then finds balance from a dry edge of spice, smokiness and lifted acidity. It’s another great vintage from this biodynamic estate. Wine Enthusiast | 98 WEThe 2019 Pontet-Canet was so effusive and generous en primeur. Today, though, it is quite reticent. That won’t be an issue for those who can be patient, but patience indeed will be the key here. Dark red fleshed fruit, tobacco, cedar, spice, kirsch, mint and blood orange gradually open with a bit of coaxing. Imposing tannins wrap it all together. The 2019 is a drop-dead gorgeous beauty, but it needs time.Antonio Galloni | 96 AGVery lush out of the gate, with waves of gently mulled plum, blackberry and black currant fruit that roll through slowly, lined with alder, sweet tobacco, worn cedar and singed savory notes. Delivers a late tug of iron that’s well-buried on a finish marked by lingering perfume, resulting in an end impression of a rich wine that’s very light on its feet. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. Best from 2023 through 2036.Wine Spectator | 94 WSThe 2019 Pontet-Canet offers up an expressive bouquet of plummy fruit, kirsch, dried herbs and peonies. On the palate, it’s full-bodied, ample and seamless, with melting tannins, succulent acids, and a long, liqueured finish. Tasted twice, it’s a wine I find somewhat perplexing: in a blind tasting, I might be more inclined to place it in Gigondas than Pauillac. I’m far from dogmatic when it comes to what the French call "typicité," and stylistic diversity surely enriches every appellation; but by the same token, I’m not convinced that this is the most compelling aesthetic that a Cabernet-based blend from this part of Bordeaux can realize. Checking in at 13.7% alcohol, some 35% of the production was matured in amphorae, which no doubt contributes to the wine’s idiosyncratic identity.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 93 RPThe 2019 Château Pontet Canet checks in as a blend of 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc, and 2% Petit Verdot that was brought up in a mix of barrels and concrete tanks. It shows the new style of the estate with a more savory, exotic, medium to full-bodied style that’s a dramatically different beast than the benchmark 2009 and 2010 vintages, which to my mind, are the greatest vintages from this estate to date. The 2019 has a ruby/plum color as well as a perfumed nose of redcurrant and mulberry fruits as well as notes of brambly herbs, woodsmoke, peony, leather, and cedar pencil. It’s aromatic and complex, although certainly not classic Pauillac, and on the palate, it’s medium to full-bodied, with firm, savory, yet quality tannins, good balance, and outstanding length. It warrants 7-8 years of bottle age and will evolve for 30+ years. While the style of the estate has been gradually shifting with the winemaking moving to hand destemming and aging in concrete and amphora, this is the first time where the winemaking seems to dominate the wine, and the quality is unquestionably not at the same level.Jeb Dunnuck | 92 JD