Red Bordeaux Blend Wines

wines

Good bright medium ruby. Dark berries, bitter chocolate and sexy smoky oak tones on the nose. Fat, full, concentrated and lush, with strong soil character and sound vinosity, giving the wine a chewy texture. Denser than the 2001. Finishes long and spicy, with ripe, suave tannins.Vinous Media | 90-92 VMWhile not performing nearly as well as I had hoped, the 2000 Quinault l’Enclos is, nevertheless, an outstanding, fully mature St.-Emilion. Raspberry, black currant, and floral characteristics are accompanied by striking elegance, but less richness and intensity than I noted seven years ago. This wine is evolving quickly, and needs to be consumed over the next 5-7 years.Robert Parker | 91 RPComplex aromas of earth, spice, meat and berries follow through to a medium- to full-bodied palate, with silky tannins and a long, delicious finish. Reserved and full of finesse. Best after 2008. 5,415 cases made.Wine Spectator | 91 WS

This 7,500-case blend of 62% Merlot and 38% Cabernet Franc is one of the strongest wines of the vintage. A deep blue/purple hue is accompanied by classic aromas of smoky blueberries and blackberries as well as incense and floral notes in the background. A beautiful texture, opulence, flamboyance, and purity characterize this stunningly deep, full-bodied effort, another great success from proprietor Hubert de Bouard. Anticipated maturity: 2009-2022.Robert Parker | 95 RPLike the best of the St-Emilions of this vintage, Angélus seems to glow in the glass, the intensity of its color matched by the silken brocade of its tannin. My notes are all about the expression of those tannins-espresso beans, dark chocolate, relentless, aristocratic, too young to touch. The fruit reveals itself in merlot richness and cabernet franc power (a 60-40 blend), unlikely to show more detail before it's ten or 12 years old.Wine & Spirits | 95 W&SFull of dark fruits and sweet tobacco character. Full-bodied, with super fine, silky tannins and a long finish. Give it another three years.James Suckling | 94 JSDeep ruby. Wild aromas of plum, redcurrant, game, underbrush and flowers; hints of liqueur-like superripeness. Supple and suave but also rich and large-scaled; seriously concentrated and deep for the vintage but less sweet than the 2005. This boasts lovely texture and broad, ripe tannins but I find more intensity and incipient complexity-not to mention purity and lift-in the young 2006.Vinous Media | 91 VMDark ruby in color, with coffee bean, meat and berry aromas. Full-bodied, with velvety tannins and a medium finish. I love the texture. Balanced and stylish. Best after 2010. 8,330 cases made.Wine Spectator | 91 WS

This is very tight and juicy with beautiful dark fruit and hints of smoked meat. Full body and soft, racy tannins. Beautiful finish. Love the acidity and minerals here. Focused and polished. Drink now.James Suckling | 97 JSAnother sleeper of the vintage from Perse, this wine shows lots of licorice, underbrush, blackcurrants and black cherries, cedary wood spice, a round, expansive, full-bodied mouthfeel, beautiful texture and again, stunning purity, all while remaining relatively youthful. This wine probably won’t hit its prime for at least another 4-6 years and is certainly capable of lasting a quarter of a century afterward.Robert Parker | 95 RPSaturated bright ruby. The fruit-driven aromas of black raspberry, blueberry, violet pastille, espresso, minerals and sexy oak offer superb perfume. Hugely rich and sweet but with outstanding inner-mouth minerality and energy and enticing violet lift. For all its ripeness, there’s nothing roasted about this superconcentrated Saint-Emilion; in fact, this wine is quite backward and reserved today. The finish features exceptionally sweet tannins and great palate-saturating length. The bottled wine has turned out to be even better than my barrel tastings suggested. Wow!Vinous Media | 95 VMAlways ripe, always velvety and dense in texture, Pavie’s 2006 nevertheless also shows more structure and elegance than in the past few vintages. The result is a great wine, with smoky, rich fruit and a dense, concentrated core of sweet tannins, chocolate and fresh raspberry flavors. While it is seductive now, it really needs many years of aging.Wine Enthusiast | 95 WEHitting its stride now, with alluring singed juniper and apple wood notes that have melded nicely with the core of lightly steeped red currant and blackberry fruit. A graphite edge runs underneath and the finish pulls everything together, adding a warm tobacco accent.--Non-blind Pavie vertical (March 2017). Drink now through 2030.Wine Spectator | 94 WSGreat depth of flavour, layers of smooth black fruit emphasising texture over taste, with firm tannins that draw you in while keeping you at arm’s length. This is very young but is significantly more resolved than it was a few years ago. I am always a bigger fan of Pavie in the vintages that force a slightly early picking. Still, when will Pavie truly believe that less is more? Drinking Window 2018 - 2035.Decanter | 92 DECEven in blind tastings, the superconcentrated, modern style of Pavie brings out the partisans. One taster described it as ’a loudly dressed Liberace cuvée.’ Another praised its dark, floral fruit, depth and minerality. It is a great terroir, and if you appreciate new oak and deep, rich fruit, Pavie is fine and gracious in the 2006 vintage.Wine & Spirits | 91 W&S

The 2006 Pichon Lalande, which blows away the 2005, represents a return to the velvety-textured, rich, sexy style most readers would associate with Pichon Lalande. This blend of 64% Cabernet Sauvignon and 36% Merlot no Petit Verdot was included in the final blend exhibits a dense purple color as well as abundant aromas of chocolate, coffee, cedar, black currants, and a subtle touch of smoke, a rich, savory, full-bodied mouthfeel, plump, fleshy fruit, and a superb finish. This is a 21st century version of the brilliant 1996. Anticipated maturity: 2013-2030.One of the major disappointments in 2005 was Pichon Lalande, but the change in ownership, with the Roederer/Deutz champagne firm taking control in 2006, resulted in a very severe selection being instituted, only 41% of the production went into the grand vin.Robert Parker | 95 RPOne of the most pleasant and unexpected surprises in this tasting, the 2006 Pichon Lalande is gorgeous, which is something I can’t say about too many wines in a vintage marked by climatic ups and downs and irregular ripening. Dark, powerful and intense, the 2006 possesses exceptional balance. A host of black cherry, plum, smoke, licorice and menthol flesh out in this decidedly somber, virile Pichon Lalande. In a vintage in which so many wines are so rustic, the 2006 Pichon Lalande is all class. This sleeper Pichon Lalande will drink well for at least the next two decades, perhaps longer.Antonio Galloni | 95 AGThe success of this wine owes as much to Merlot as to Cabernet. The Merlot has created the ripeness and smoothness of the wine. While the Cabernet keeps it firm and closed up, there is a base of rich, sweet fruit here that will show over the next two years. The style of the wine is moving away from elegance to power under the new regime of owners, Champagne Roederer.Wine Enthusiast | 94 WERich and powerful but also restrained, with the characteristic perfume of Pichon Comtesse, this offers enormous potential for pleasure. The silky damson fruit also has a supporting cast of cloves and dark chocolate, with black truffles just starting to appear. Drinking Window 2017 - 2040Decanter | 93 DECDisplays currant and blackberry, with hints of licorice. Full-bodied, with round, chewy tannins and lots of fruit under the structure. A rich wine for the vintage, needing plenty of bottle age. Best after 2014. 16,665 cases made.Wine Spectator | 92 WS(Château Pichon-Lalande) I really like the 2006 vintage on the Left Bank and the Pichon-Lalande is a fine example. The bouquet offers up a deep and complex blend of blackberries, cassis, espresso, fresh herb tones, tobacco leaf, a nice touch of sweet bell pepper, gravel, violets and nutty new oak. On the palate the wine is full-bodied, complex and quite refined in profile, with a fine, almost sappy core of fruit, nascent complexity and very good length and grip on the ripely tannic finish. This will be a classic Pichon with sufficient bottle age. (Drink between 2021-2060).John Gilman | 92+ JG

Rich, concentrated, powerful, inky in colour, the darkest of the lineup so far. This is not ready yet, and once again the 10 year rule doesn't quite hold true with the 2010s. There is tension, power, and a bristle of tannins to get through before it really opens up, but already you are struck by the depth to the olive paste, blackberry, hawthorn, liquorice, slate. This will last just as long as the 2005 and maybe longer. Not as enjoyable along the way perhaps, but when it finally opens up it is going to be incredible. Makes you just think hats off to Bordeaux for being able to do this. A yield of 42hl/ha. Drinking Window 2022 - 2046.Decanter | 97 DECThe most powerful Issan ever with incredible depth of fruit and richness. Muscular tannins. Loads of dark berry, tea leaf and autumnal character at the end of the palate. A traditional, broad-shouldered wine. Better in 2018.James Suckling | 96 JSThis red offers a grippy, charcoal-laced feel, cloaked by very fleshy plum, currant and blackberry confiture flavors. The long, tarry spine drives the finish, with extra bay leaf, maduro tobacco and warm stone notes. A touch taut, but should be ready to open soon enough. Best from 2014 through 2024.Wine Enthusiast | 96 WEA complete, medium to full-bodied, exquisite Margaux from this medieval, moat-encircled, compellingly beautiful estate in the southern Medoc, D’Issan’s 2010 is a blend of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon and 40% Merlot. The deep, gravelly soils mixed with clay have provided extraordinary aromatics. The yields were ridiculously low (22 hectoliters per hectare) and the wine tips the scaled at 13.7% natural alcohol. Production was small after the selection for the grand vin, and the result is a dense, purple-colored wine with beautiful aromatics of spring flowers, blueberries and black raspberries as well as hints of cassis, tar and charcoal. The wine is gorgeously pure, well-balanced, and soft enough to be approached in 4-5 years or cellared for 25-30.Robert Parker | 95 RPThe 2010 d'Issan appears to be shutting down on the nose (unlike the 2008) and begrudgingly opens in the glass to give fleeting glimpses of wondrous graphite-infused black fruit, hints of iodine and brine surfacing with time. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannin and a real killer line of acidity. Like many 2012s it has a rigid backbone but it is incredibly fresh with a sustained finish that suggests that it is one of the most sophisticated Grand Vins this estate has ever produced. Just be warned that it needs another 8 to 10 years in bottle. Tasted at the d’Issan vertical held at the property.Vinous Media | 94 VM(Château d’Issan) The 2010 d’Issan is an excellent example of the vintage and one of the top wines in Margaux this year. The bouquet is deep, pure and classic, as it offers up scents of sweet cassis, tobacco leaf, a touch of tariness, espresso, gravelly soil tones and toasty new oak. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, complex and quite structured, with a fair bit of firm, but well-integrated tannins, tangy acids and really lovely length and grip on the classy finish. This will be excellent, but will need some extended cellaring to soften up some of its substantial tannins. (Drink between 2022-2075).John Gilman | 93 JGThis red offers a grippy, charcoal-laced feel, cloaked by very fleshy plum, currant and blackberry confiture flavors. The long, tarry spine drives the finish, with extra bay leaf, maduro tobacco and warm stone notes. A touch taut, but should be ready to open soon enough. Best from 2014 through 2024. 8,333 cases made.Wine Spectator | 91 WSPerfumed with floral red fruit, this is a rich Margaux with fine, sandy tannins that become increasingly more potent through the course of the finish. It’s tense and a little brusque in the end, suited to long aging. This ancient château in Cantenac has continued to gain stature under the stewardship of Emmanuel Cruse.Wine & Spirits | 90 W&S

A wine with beautiful strawberry and chocolate with hints of pie crust. It's full-bodied with super integrated tannins and a long, long finish. Needs at least four to five years to really come together but so wonderful. Not the amazing 2009 but clearly outstanding.James Suckling | 95 JSGorgeous, flowery, classic Margaux once again, the 2010 Malescot St.-Exupery continues to show virtually no toasty oak, given the impeccable balance and full-bodied, full-throttle style it possesses. Black raspberries, creme de cassis and spring floral notes intermixed with forest floor and a hint of charcoal are followed by an opulent, sexy, full-bodied wine whose tannins have become much sweeter, while the wine is less restrained yet still exuberant and impressive. This is a phenomenal example once again for this estate, harmonious in every sense of style, extraordinarily long, rich and ageworthy. Three to four years of bottle age will do wonders to make it more accessible, but this wine is set for 25-30 years of longevity.Robert Parker | 95 RPThis delivers a slightly chewy-edged feel, with charcoal and roasted alder hints holding sway over the core of steeped damson plum, black currant and anise notes. Shows grip through the finish, but stays long, featuring a lovely backdrop of tar and warm stone. The excellent range and drive should pay off in the cellar. Best from 2015 through 2030. — JMWine Spectator | 94 WSGood deep ruby-red. High-pitched aromas of raspberry, cherry liqueur, flowers and cedary cigar box. A sweet, dense midweight with penetrating red cherry and floral flavors accented by sound acidity. Nothing thick or heavy about this wine but it possesses plenty of chewy depth. Boasts excellent early balance but has the firm, sweet tannins and finishing bite and length for at least a couple decades of positive evolution in bottle.Vinous Media | 93 VM92-94 Sweet and juicy, a wine that has the potential to be delicious. The tannins are certainly prominent, although with good sweetness. Finally very structured.Wine Enthusiast | 93 WE