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Wow. This really shows wonderful depth and complexity on the nose with blueberries, fresh flowers and hints of stones. It’s full-bodied, with ultra-refined tannins and a long, long finish. Gets better and better with age: gorgeous now but will improve for many years to come. Excellent.James Suckling | 93 JSTasted at BBR’s 2005/2009 tasting in London. This is a great 2005. The Cantemerle is developing a very attractive, lifted nose with more cedar and crushed stone, hints of freshly rolled tobacco and briary. The palate is medium-bodied with firm tannins, gentle grip, leading to a foursquare but precise finish that does not dare put a foot wrong. Sedate at the moment but sure to open up with time. Classic Bordeaux.Robert Parker Neal Martin | 91 RP-NMShows blackberry and plum skin aromas, with hints of vanilla. Medium- to full-bodied, with soft, velvety tannins and a pretty, fruity aftertaste. An elegant, balanced style. Lingers on the palate. Best after 2012. 33,330 cases made.Wine Spectator | 90 WS

This classic, powerful, firm Lynch Bages may be as concentrated (if not more so) than the 2005. It possesses a dense purple-tinged color, tell-tale cassis notes interwoven with hints of roast beef, savory herbs, spice box and subtle oak, good acidity and ripe tannin. The result is a full-bodied, fleshy Pauillac that will benefit from another 3-4 years of cellaring. It is capable of lasting 20-25 more years.Robert Parker | 94 RPYear after year, Lynch-Bages is able to produce sumptuous wines, typically rich, powerful and structured. This is solid, the blackberry ripe fruit enveloping this structure with a velvet sheen. This is developing into one of the successes of the vintage.Wine Enthusiast | 94 WESlowly and confidently inching towards its drinking window, but needs another three to five years before it gets there. Deep plush fruit with tight liquorice root and menthol edging against rich blackberry coulis. Beautiful subtle tension and complexity on display. Really a huge amount that uncurls slowly in the glass. Very seductive. Drinking Window 2018 - 2040Decanter | 94 DEC(Château Lynch Bages) The 2006 Lynch Bages was raised in eighty percent new oak, which intuitively would have seen a bit excessive in a vintage such as ’06, but the wine has worked out well and looks to be a fine example of the year. The nose is deep and lovely, as it offers up a complex mélange of cassis, black cherries, tobacco, herb tones, gravel, espresso and toasty new oak. On the palate the wine is medium-full, long and suave on the attack, with a fine core of fruit, plenty of ripe, well-integrated tannins and fine length and grip on the nascently complex finish. (Drink between 2019-2035)John Gilman | 92 JGVery focused and pretty now, with currants, minerals and hints of dried flowers. Full body with super-integrated tannins and a long, long finish. Beautiful. Drink or hold.James Suckling | 92 JSBlackberry, licorice and mint aromas lead to a full-bodied palate, with velvety tannins and lots of blackberry and mineral fruit character. Shows outstanding concentration and balance. Best after 2014.Wine Spectator | 92 WS(a blend of 79% cabernet sauvignon, 10% merlot, 10% cabernet franc and 1% petit verdot; 3.54 pH; 6.03 g/l total acidity; 81 IPT; 13.2% alcohol): Fully saturated bright ruby. Currently in a slightly dumb phase and aromatically compressed on the nose, revealing cool blackberry and cassis aromas with extended aeration, complicated by notes of cola, flowers, red cherry and sweet spices. Then soft, round and ripe in the mouth, with persistent flavors of black cherry, cassis and cinnamon. A very serious wine offering impressive definition and very good balance, turning almost austere at the back, but with a pretty, pristine quality to its repeating floral and black fruit notes. Finishes with smooth, building tannins: don’t even think of opening this beauty for another eight to ten years. One of the best vintage for Lynch-Bages in recent memory.Vinous Media | 91+ VMWhile the cedary scent shows this wine’s potential complexity, the tannins bury it for now in extract. It’s as black as ATV tires ripping roots out of the earth as it lays tracks over dark, blueberry flavors. A tough vintage of Lynch-Bages, this needs time to develop past its initial reduction and allow the fruit to come up.Wine & Spirits | 90 W&S

So smooth, this is a rich, grandiose wine. Although it is full of black currant fruits and spice flavors, the texture is most impressive. Dusty tannins are integrated with juicy fruits seamlessly. The purest fruit flavors are allied to linear tannins in a precise yet generous way. The wine is evolving beautifully, but do not drink before 2020.Wine Enthusiast | 96 WEA wine with lots of ripe berries, verging on dried fruits. Full and chewy with ripe, round, chewy tannins. It needs lots of bottle age. A wine of steel. From biodynamically grown grapes, as always. Better than from barrel. Try in 2018.James Suckling | 95 JSProprietor Alfred Tesseron-s 2011 Pontet-Canet is packaged in an engraved, heavy bottle, which only adds to the attractiveness of this beauty. A dense purple color is accompanied by notes of forest floor, acacia flowers and creme de cassis in this full, rich, and unequivocally classic Pauillac. With soft but noticeable tannins as well as a complete, full-bodied mouthfeel, this 2011 will benefit from 3-4 years of cellaring, and should age effortlessly for 15-20 years. Bravo!Robert Parker | 93+ RPLooking more evolved than the 2010, with higher-toned red berry fruit and blackberry and cassis. Cedar and smoke accentuate the aromatics alongside chopper herbs. Not quite as ripe as the 2010 - more linear than round, but it has a subtle mid palate creaminess as the tannins have softened. Grill a steak, and you’ll be very happy. Long, if narrow, finish. Aged 50% new oak. Drinking Window 2021 - 2045.Decanter | 93 DECThis cuts a broad swath, with prominent notes of espresso and ganache leading to the core of crushed plum and blackberry confiture. Lush, with the ganache edge joining a loamy hint to underscore the finish. Consistent with the barrel tasting, this shows more breadth than cut in the end. Best from 2016 through 2026.Wine Spectator | 92 WS(Château Pontet-Canet) Château Pontet-Canet is making one of the most exciting wines in all of Bordeaux these days and their 2011 is one of the top wines to be found on the Left Bank. Jean-Michel Comme decided on using fifty percent new wood this year and feels that he may even reduce the percentage in coming vintages, as he prefers the expression of terroir that comes through at lower percentages of new wood. As many readers may already know, Château Pontet-Canet is the only major estate in all of Bordeaux to embrace biodynamique principals, and as has been seen to be the case in regions such as Burgundy, now that the vineyards have been farmed biodynamically for a while now, they are really starting to accelerate in terms of quality fruit production. Happily, there was no hail damage at Pontet-Canet this year and the decision to let the grapes ripen fully and then sort out the rot seems to have paid excellent dividends. The complex nose is deep and excellent, offering up a very pure blend of black cherries, cassis, dark soil tones, cigar smoke, a nice touch of new leather, coffee bean and a stylish framing of new wood. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, very pure and classically balanced, with a lovely core of fruit, firm, well-integrated tannins and excellent focus and grip on the long and classy finish. A very thoughtfully-made and impressively-successful 2011! (Drink between 2022-2065).John Gilman | 92+ JG

The 2021 Haut-Bages Libéral is a powerful, dense wine. Black cherry, mocha, plum, licorice and incense are all amplified in a brooding, dense Pauillac endowed with notable textural richness and tons of sheer power. Aeration releases the wine’s bracing acidity and aromatics, yet the 2021 remains quite rich. Yields were just 31.5 hectoliters-per-hectare, about 30% lower than normal. Haut-Bages Libéral is a rare 2021 that needs time to shed some of its considerable baby fat. It’s a seriously impressive wine from Claire Lurton. The 2021 was aged 40% in new oak, 40% in once-filled barrels and 20% in a combination of amphora and concrete vat.Vinous Media | 95 VMThis is already open and delicious with cherry, cassis, blueberry and chocolate-orange character. Some peach notes, too. Medium to full body with velvety, ripe and plush tannins. Caressing, yet it remains firm and solid. Lovely, creamy finish. 90% cabernet sauvignon and 10% merlot. From biodynamically grown grapes with Demeter certification.James Suckling | 94-95 JSVery aromatic on the nose, this has savoury, fruit and floral tones; liquorice, cola and earth with cranberries, strawberries and black cherries. Dense and quite darkly fruited on the palate but with a brightness from the acidity giving a mouthwatering attack before the flavours deepen and widen in the mouth. So many layers, really showing the Pauillac power: everything presented in high definition with a bold structure even though the individual elements are so precise and defined. It’s racy and confident but also complex with a spiced cedar, clove, cinnamon, liquorice and wet stone/ chalky element to the tannins that fill the mouth and don’t let go. A lovely wine with lots of potential from Claire Villars-Lurton! 65% grand vin. A blend of 90% Cabernet Sauvignon - the highest percentage ever - and 10% Merlot, which usually comprises between 15 to 25% of the blend. 11.5% press wine. Ageing 16 months, 40% new oak, 40% one-year-old oak, 20% amphoras.Decanter | 93 DECThe 2021 Haut-Bages-Libéral has turned out nicely, unfurling in the glass with aromas of cassis, minty berries, pencil shavings and cigar wrapper, followed by a medium to full-bodied, deep and layered palate that’s impressively concentrated, built around a muscular frame of ripe, powdery tannins that assert themselves on the youthfully structured finish. It will reward a bit of patience.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 92+ RP