Wine Ratings

wines

Gorgeous ripe fruit character, with loads of blueberries, blackberries and flowers. Full body, with velvety tannins and a fruity, fresh, grapefruit aftertaste. Really beautiful. Best ever from here. Best after 2018.James Suckling | 95 JSThe 2009 Cantemerle finally shows the potential that it displayed out of barrel. It has a delightful, well-defined bouquet with blackberry, cedar and tobacco aromas, vigorous with impressive delineation and class. The palate is medium-bodied with fine grain tannin, and a taut line of acidity. Fresh and vibrant with a poised and quite tensile finish. This is a wonderfully crafted 2009 Left Bank. Tasted blind at Farr Vintners’ 2009 Bordeaux tasting.Vinous Media | 93 VM(Château Cantemerle) In contrast to the hot and rustic personality of the 2010 Cantemerle, the 2009 is a superb example of this excellent terroir in a ripe and buxom vintage, and this wine is quite strong. The superb nose shows far more purity than its 2010 counterpart, wafting from the glass in a generous mélange of cassis, sweet dark berries, tobacco leaf, lovely, dark soil tones, cigar wrapper and a bit of smoky new oak. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, plush and primary, with a fine core, ripe, chewy tannins and very good focus and grip on the long, youthful and very well-balanced finish. This is a lovely, broad-shouldered Cantemerle in the making, but give it plenty of time in the cellar to blossom. (Drink between 2025-2075)John Gilman | 92 JGVery structured wine, with black currant fruit and dense acidity. The tannins are dark, firm, solid. This is a fine wine from Cantemerle, reveling in the richness of the vintage.Wine Enthusiast | 92 WEReaders looking for the more ethereal, elegant side of Bordeaux need search no further than Cantemerle, one of the estates in the very southern end of the Medoc. Dense ruby/purple (nearly opaque), this wine offers up notes of lead pencil shavings, spring flowers, raspberries and black cherries. The wine is ethereal, medium-bodied, and by no means a blockbuster, but long and intellectual. However, the tannins are present, and the wine is certainly capable of putting on weight with time in the bottle. Give it 3-4 years of bottle age and drink it over the following 25+ years.Robert Parker | 91+ RPThis broad, fleshy style delivers toasty spice and tobacco notes up front, followed by dark cocoa, crushed plum and mulled blackberry fruit flavors. This really stretches out nicely in the glass, with alluring dark fruit and a velvety feel. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc. Drink now through 2017. 33,330 cases made.Wine Spectator | 91 WS

The finest Batailley I have had in many years, the dense purple-colored 2009 exhibits a boatload of tannin as well as sweet, caramelized, black currant fruit intermixed with hints of charcoal, cedarwood and smoke, a full-bodied mouthfeel and the aforementioned high, but sweet, well-integrated tannin displaying no jaggedness. Batailley often requires considerable patience as it can be one of the longest-lived Pauillacs. Atypically for Batailley, the 2009 should be ready to drink in 5-7 years and keep for three decades.Robert Parker | 94 RPA rich yet dry Pauillac that’s now very attractive to drink and has a good harmony in spite of the generous alcohol. Long, supple finish. Drink or hold. (Horizontal Tasting, London, 2019)James Suckling | 93 JSThis wine showed exceptionally well, both at the the Bordeaux 10 Years On tasting in London a few weeks ago and in the Decanter Premium tasting in New York. It’s great value for this level of Pauillac. Drinking Window 2019 - 2040Decanter | 93 DECSmooth black currant fruit with great density as well as superripeness. The wine is charming, while still having a powerful structure. Still a relative value in Pauillac, Batailley is now showing real class.Wine Enthusiast | 93 WEThe 2009 Batailley seems a little closed on the nose at first and needs more encouragement than its peers, eventually unfurling with cedar and graphite infused black fruit, slightly earthy in style. The palate is medium-bodied with fine definition, quite linear and poised with a touch of cracked black pepper on the finish. Excellent. Tasted at BI Wines & Spirits’ Ten Year On tasting.Vinous Media | 92 VM(Château Batailly) The 2009 Batailly has really turned out well and is clearly one of the candidates for sleeper of the vintage on the Left Bank. The nose is deep and classy, as it offers up scents of cassis, tobacco leaf, gravelly soil tones, smoke, espresso and a deft framing of cedary wood. On the palate the wine is deep, medium-full and poised, with fine intensity of flavor, ripe tannins, lovely focus and a fine, classic profile on the long and bouncy finish. This is old school Pauillac in the best sense of the word. (Drink between 2017-2040)John Gilman | 90-91 JGA chewy core of black currant, tobacco and roasted apple wood stretches out through the grip-framed finish. Fresh acidity rides underneath to keep it all lively. A solid version, with a throwback hint. Best from 2013 through 2023.Wine Spectator | 91 WS

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