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Wonderful aromatics of walnut, leather, soft truffles, touches of cloves, this is a perfect wine for the winter months. The high acidity maintains freshness and backbone but there is a definite tertiary feel at this point with autumnal raspberry and blackberry fruits. It's gentle and welcoming with the elegant edge that Issan does so well. Feels like an old friend and practically begs you to stop what you are doing and open a book. A yield of 36hl/ha. 50% new oak. Drinking Window 2020 - 2034.Decanter | 94 DECFully mature, the 2000 D’Issan is a quintessentially elegant, yet concentrated, aristocratic Margaux that defines the appellation. The wine has a dark ruby/purple color just beginning to lighten at the edge. Notes of charcoal, acacia flowers, black raspberries, and blue fruits are followed by a medium to full-bodied wine that builds incrementally on the palate. With its outstanding purity, richness, elegance and length, this is a beauty that has reached its window of maturity, where it should stay for another 15 or more years.Robert Parker | 93 RPChâteau d’Issan produced a very good wine in the 2000 vintage, but it is still several years away from starting to blossom and drink with generosity. The deep and still quite primary nose delivers scents of cassis, tar, herb tones, cigar smoke, coffee bean and a bit of toasty new oak. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and potentially complex, with a rock solid core, firm tannins, very good focus and a long, youthfully muscular and chewy finish. Like a great many examples of the 2000 vintage in Bordeaux, this wine is completely hunkered down at the present time and is a bit sullen, but it should prove to be very good with sufficient bottle age. Just how much charm it will eventually deliver is still an open question, but that is a question that really should be asked of the vintage in general! Drink between 2020-2060.John Gilman | 92 JGNo written reviews provided | 92 W&S

Superrich in its dark fruit, black herbs and boldly oaked flavors, this is also firm and, in the end, extremely tannic. It finishes dry, the power of the tannin increasing with air, with a grip that will need long bottle aging to relent. Check on it ten years from the vintage.Wine & Spirits | 92 W&SMilk chocolate and blackberry aromas follow through to a full body, with very soft tannins and a long, caressing finish. This is so delicious now, but has a balance of fruit and tannins. One of the best from this estate in some time. Best after 2014. 2,500 cases made.Wine Spectator | 92 WSI recall enjoying this wine from barrel, with its fresh fruit aromatics, solid tannins and fine length. Tasted two years ago in Bordeaux, it again showed freshness but lacked density. Tasty, but not at the level of the 2015. A blend of 75% Merlot, 18% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Cabernet Franc. Drinking Window 2018 - 2022Decanter | 90 DECFruity and smoky, this wine succeeds on its charm, with soft tannins, acidity and superripe fruit. With its (for Pomerol) high percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon, the wine certainly has structure, but maybe misses on richness.Wine Enthusiast | 90 WE

Significantly better from bottle than it was from barrel, the 2005 Rauzan-Gassies appears to be the finest wine this estate has ever produced. Dense purple-hued with a beautiful perfume of camphor, creme de cassis, licorice, bay leaf, and incense, it is a full-bodied, stunningly concentrated, broad, rich Margaux with lovely integrated tannins. This backward 2005 will handsomely repay cellaring. Anticipated maturity: 2014-2030+.Robert Parker | 92 RPSolid, dry tannins, very firm and hard, but they are also ripe. The wine has high extraction, very dark fruit flavors, but resists being too huge. This could well turn out to be a very elegant wine.Wine Enthusiast | 92 WEAll boats rise in a vintage like 2005, and the notoriously sleepy second Rauzan-Gassies turned out to be one of the surprises at our tasting. It starts with a dark scent of tobacco and then cassis pours out of the middle of the wine. At first, the fruit seems a little weak in the finish, but the center feels lush and silken and, with air, the pebbly tannins extend a sleek plummy flavor. You'll get more from the super-seconds, but this is a fine wine on its own terms.Wine & Spirits | 90 W&S

You start to feel the dial turning up the power as this travels through the palate. Even at 10 years old, the tannins go in deep around the fruit, with luscious menthol notes on the finish. This is one of the juiciest of the Pauillacs, with layers of plum fruits, tobacco and melted tannins. It's totally firing on all cylinders, although not a blockbuster, reflective of this vintage. But that means you can drink this now, or you can wait; either way you can enjoy what is going on here. Drinking Window 2018 - 2034Decanter | 94 DEC(Château Grand-Puy-Lacoste) The 2008 Grand-Puy-Lacoste was not showing quite as well as its stable-mate, Haut-Batailly, during my visit to the property in April, but one has to assume that this was simply a moment of adolescent awkwardness for the wine. The nose is very deep and still very closed, as it reluctantly offers up scents of black cherries, cassis, tobacco leaf, plenty of gravelly soil tones, cedar and a smoky topnote. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and rock solid at the core, with lovely, nascent complexity, a superb signature of soil, plenty of ripe tannins, very good acids and fine length and grip on the very gravelly and smoky finish. This will take longer to come around than the Haut-Batailly, but should also prove to be a fine example of the vintage. (Drink between 2020-2050)John Gilman | 91 JGThe 2008 Grand Puy Lacoste has a very expressive bouquet with blackberry, cedar and graphite notes, quintessentially Pauillac, building in intensity all the time in the glass but remaining "correct". The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannin on the entry, more red fruit here than black, good density with a fine bead of acidity. This all leads to a cohesive finish that might be more forward than I expected or would have liked. It is a fine GPL albeit one that feels conservative and does not reach for the stars like other vintages under Xavier Borie. (Tasted at BI Wine & Spirit’s annual 10-Year On tasting).Vinous Media | 91 VMA beautiful, classic wine, the 2008 Château Grand-Puy-Lacoste has an old school nose of currants, saddle leather, ground herbs, cherries, hints of dried flowers and just a touch of cedar. It's ripe, medium-bodied, lightly textured, and has true Pauillac character. Drink it over the coming decade or more.Jeb Dunnuck | 90 JD

Smells heady and hedonistic, a mix of dark ripe bramble fruits, exotic spices and medicinal herbs with liquorice, clove and a soft floral violet scent. Refined, elegant and so finessed on the palate, juicy with high acidity that is quickly countered by a richness of flavour. Such classic Claret markers, driving, deep, round and expansive with a touch of sweetness and overall delectability. I love the purity of the expression, it’s not shouting - so quietly confident with detail and precision all the way through. Supremely harmonious with an underlying spice aspect and fresh ending. Maybe still a bit too young, given the 1996 at this point, but I love it. From magnum.Decanter | 97 DECA blend of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 24% Merlot, 14% Cabernet Franc, and 2% Petit Verdot, the 2009 d’Armailhac has a deep garnet color, with a touch of brick. It comes bounding out of the glass with exuberant notes of cherry pie, blueberry preserves, and blackcurrant pastilles, leading to suggestions of vanilla pod, dark chocolate, cinnamon toast, and lilacs. The medium to full-bodied palate is jam-packed with youthful, expressive red and black fruits, supported by velvety tannins, and finishing with fantastic length.The Wine Independent | 94 TWIPlenty of ripe cassis and chocolate with a hint of smoke on the nose lead you into a ripe and velvety Pauillac that now gives a lot of pleasure thanks to the excellent harmony and good length. Drink or hold. (Horizontal Tasting, London, 2019)James Suckling | 93 JSDeliciously fruity, with chocolate notes and acidity. The wine has dense but soft tannins that merge seamlessly into the black fruits. It is ripe, sweet, densely juicy.Wine Enthusiast | 93 WEThe 2009 d’Armailhac has a lovely bouquet with ample blackberry, boysenberry, graphite and light mint aromas - very Pauillac and very well focused. The palate is medium-bodied with succulent tannin, moderate acidity, good depth and very grippy. It is not the most complex Pauillac in this group but there is fine persistence with pure black cherry and hints of cassis towards the finish. Fine. Tasted blind at Farr Vintners’ 2009 Bordeaux tasting.Vinous Media | 92 VMThis has density, structure and drive, offering seriously dark baker’s chocolate, plum, currant and fig flavors all wound up tightly by singed cedar, tar and dark tapenade notes, with a tight, mineral-driven finish. Needs a little time to unwind. Best from 2013 through 2023.Wine Spectator | 92 WSThe 2009 d’Armailhac is a very well-made wine this year, but based on the sample at the UGC tasting at Branaire-Ducru, I would have had to give a slight nod to its stable mate, Clerc Milon in ’09. However, a much fresher sample was on display at Mouton-Rothschild as well, and the d’Armailhac is certainly excellent in this vintage. The bouquet is deep, classy and quite extroverted, as it offers up scents of cassis, black cherries, coffee bean, soil , tobacco leaf and nutty new oak. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, suave and classically proportioned, with beautiful balance and excellent focus and grip on display on the long, ripely tannic finish. This is a very, very good result this year. (Drink between 2018-2040)John Gilman | 90-91 JGThe 2009 D’Armailhac has a medium to deep garnet color, and vibrant red and black fruit preserves, incense, earth and dried herbs all spring from the glass with a faint undercurrent of beef drippings. Medium-bodied, firm and chewy in the mouth, it has just enough maturing, savory fruit to fill the palate, with a lively line of freshness and an herbal lift on the finish.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 90 RP