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The 2012 The Maiden is super-refined, polished and expressive. Crushed flowers, sweet red berries, mint, pine and cinnamon are some of the signatures. Open-knit and medium in body, the Maiden is racy and super-polished to the core. It is feminine, lifted in style and well-suited to near-term drinking.Vinous Media | 93 VMThe 2012 The Maiden displays soft blackcurrant liqueur notes, as well as cedar wood, forest floor, underbrush, and hints of white chocolate and espresso. It is broad, savory, sexy and opulent. Drink it over the next 12-15+ years.Robert Parker | 92 RPExhibits a dusty, dried herb savoriness amid dark berry, cedar and new leather scents, ending with fine-grained, gripping tannins and a touch of mocha. To be released spring 2016. Drink now through 2028. 1,208 cases made.Wine Spectator | 92 WS

Firmly tannic in character, this wine is dry and extracted. There’s potential for this powerful, impressive wine to bear the wine’s very dry character with the weight of its fruit.Wine Enthusiast | 95 WEDense ruby/purple, with cassis licorice and forest floors notes in the aromatics, Léoville-Barton’s 2012 is a relatively big, rich, masculine style of wine. This full-bodied wine needs 5-8 years of cellaring and should evolve easily for 25-30 years.Robert Parker | 92 RPDense black-red, firm, quite spicy Cabernet Sauvignon, both ripeness and firmness is there, elegance over power and a good future. Drinking Window 2017 - 2035.Decanter | 92 DECFloral and fruity red with hints of vanilla. Medium to full body, fine tannins and a crisp finish. Loosely knit. This needs three or four years to come together. Better after 2018.James Suckling | 91 JSThe 2012 Leoville-Barton is laced with dark red and blue-fleshed stone fruits, spices, sweet spice, mint and licorice. This is a decidedly understated, forward Leoville-Barton that will drink well with minimal cellaring. The classic Leoville-Barton signatures aren’t fully developed. Perhaps I caught the 2012 in an awkward stage, but today the wine is quite introspective and gives the impression of not being fully formed.Antonio Galloni | 91+ AG

This firm, dry wine is solidly rich and full in the mouth. With fine acidity and black currant fruit that show through the tannins, it is a wine with considerable potential.Wine Enthusiast | 94 WEThis is not as concentrated as some vintages, but is an enjoyable Giscours with plenty going for it over the medium term. Smoky black fruit aromas lead to good weight on the attack and through the mid-palate, suggesting careful and well-controlled extraction of ripe fruits. This takes its time to open and is relatively subdued, but has an enjoyable depth and spiciness. The acidity is juicy rather than tight. Drinking Window 2021 - 2040.Decanter | 92 DECA bright and fruity wine with a hot stone and currant character. Medium to full body, silky tannins and a fresh finish. Citrus undertone. Drink or hold.James Suckling | 92 JSThe 2012 Giscours offers up a profile of savory herbs, smoke, tobacco, licorice, dried rose petal, all backed up by beams of tannin that will ensure the 2012 will drink well for another decade plus. The Giscours is a bit wild and unrestrained, as it so often is, but the 2012 is very nicely balanced throughout, with lovely persistence and plenty of harmony.Vinous Media | 92 VMThis has a noticeable pepper and charcoal backdrop, but the core of black tea, crushed plum and warm currant confiture holds sway overall, while refined tannins carry the finish. Should fill out a bit more with cellaring. Best from 2017 through 2022. 23,330 cases made.Wine Spectator | 90 WS

The wine is very dry, layered tannins giving a major sense of structure. It will always have this dry, dense character, very firm, solid and powerful.Wine Enthusiast | 94 WEThis has a very solid core of dark plum, crushed black currant and blackberry fruit, with lightly firm flesh and good drive through the finish, where alder and iron notes fill in. Shows excellent energy and depth, while harnessing the austere edge of the vintage. Best from 2018 through 2025.Wine Spectator | 92 WSAromas of blackcurrants, blueberries and lemons follow through to a full body, firm tannins and a fresh, clean finish. A little tight now but excellent. Precision to this. Back ended. Better in 2018.James Suckling | 92 JSThe 2012 Lynch-Bages comes across as a bit bombastic and ripe. Mocha, plums, dark cherry, blackberry, licorice, tar and new oak are all evident in this slightly four-square Lynch Bages. Today, the 2012 comes in as somewhat disjointed and not fully put together. It will be interesting to see what further time in bottle brings. The blend is 71% Cabernet Sauvignon, 26% Merlot, 2% Cabernet Franc and 1% Petit Verdot. Because of heat stress, yields were unusually low in 2012, and that may be the reason why the wine is a bit clumsy today. I would give the 2012 a few years to come together.Antonio Galloni | 91+ AGRich dense colour, big meaty wine with good florality as well as rich fruit, a big wine, very ripe for this vintage. Drinking Window 2017 - 2035Decanter | 91 DEC(Château Lynch-Bages) The 2012 Château Lynch-Bages is another excellent success for the vintage, with fine and structured personality and impressive complexity on both the nose and palate. The deep and classy nose offers up scents of cassis, dark berries, espresso, cigar ash, smoke and a blend of cedary and nutty new oak. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and nicely reserved, with a rock solid core, ripe, chewy tannins and excellent length and grip on the youthful and promising finish. Lovely juice. (Drink between 2020-2045).John Gilman | 91 JG

I really love the 2012 Suchots from Domaine Hudelot, as the overtly red fruity character of this wine this year is very rare for this terroir and earmarks a very special vintage of the wine. The gorgeous nose offers up scents of cherries, raspberries, a touch of blood orange, Vosne spices, a beautiful base of minerality, woodsmoke and vanillin oak. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and very transparent, with a sappy core of fruit, fine-grained tannins and a very, very long, soil-driven and tangy finish. Superb juice. (Drink between 2020 - 2050)John Gilman | 93+ JGThe 2012 Vosne-Romanee 1er Cru Les Suchots comes from a 0.45-hectare holding planted back in 1920. It has a slightly muted nose out of barrel, but it unfurls revealing earthy, mossy scents with aeration. The palate is clean and fresh, but somehow foursquare and a little conservative compared to some of the domaine’s other premier crus. You get the impression that this Les Suchots is hiding something up its sleeve, whereas this vineyard is habitually one of the most expressive in its youth.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 89-91 RPBright medium red. Ripe, alluring aromas and flavors of wild strawberry, raspberry and earth. Sweet, fine-grained and enveloping, showing lovely energy and density and still holding its fruit in reserve. Finishes fresh and firm-edged, with full, fine-grained tannins and excellent length.Vinous Media | 91 VMA spicy and notably ripe nose features aromas of dark pinot fruit, red currant, blood orange and an abundance of spice elements that include anise and sandalwood. There is an elegant mouth feel to the luscious and generously proportioned middle weight flavors that possess a velvety texture, all wrapped in a beautifully complex finish. If there is a concern though it’s that this very firmly structured effort feels as though it may turn secondary relatively early in its evolution. As such I underscore my concern with a question mark because it will certainly require more than 8 years of bottle age to resolve the tannins yet the fruit may no longer be there.Burghound | 90 BH