Wine Varietals

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Tasted the following day from the rest of this vertical, because I couldn’t resist adding another wine, and I had kept this one in my own cellar for the past decade. It was too young to open to be honest, but was just stunning, and kept getting better over the two days following opening. Opulent and luscious, with balsamic, black chocolate and cloves, damson, kirsch and black cherry fruit, and the precision and swirl of campfire, ash and incense that mark out François Mitjavile’s approach. 100% new oak. An exceptional vintage with many great wines, and yet this stands out.Jane Anson | 99 JAWhile I don’t think the 2010 Château Tertre Roteboeuf matches the 2005 (or 2016), it’s a brilliant Saint-Emilion that offers textbook Tertre notes of cassis, spicy wood, graphite, white truffle, sappy tobacco, and earth. Taking lots of air to open up and integrate its ample tannins, this beauty is full-bodied, has a seamless, layered texture, flawless balance, and a rock star of a finish. It’s beautifully done and just now at the early stages of its prime drink window. It needs at least 2-3 hours in a decanter at this stage (and was even better on the second day). It’s going to evolve for another 20-30 years in cold cellars.Jeb Dunnuck | 96 JD Deep garnet in color, the 2010 Le Tertre Roteboeuf reveals notes of leather, cedar and balsamic with a core of raisin cake and unsmoked cigars. Full-bodied, the palate is firm and chewy with a lively line cutting through the dried berries and savory layers, finishing just a little warm.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 92 RPThe 2010 Le Tertre Rôteboeuf has an impressive bouquet with a mixture of red and black fruit, melted tar on a hot summer day, warm gravel and allspice. This exhibits very fine delineation and focus. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannins, a fine bead of acidity, a little toasty towards the finish where the oak seems to obscure the terroir and fruit expression, even after ten years. Hopefully that will be addressed with further cellaring because otherwise this is a fine Right Bank. Tasted blind at Farr Vintners 10-Year On Bordeaux horizontal.Vinous Media | 92+ VM

One of the perfect wines of the vintage, Frederic Engerer challenged me when I tasted the 2010 Latour at the estate, asking, “If you rate the 2009 one hundred, then how can this not be higher?” Well, the scoring system stops at 100, (and has for 34 years,) and will continue for as long as I continue to write about wine. Nevertheless, this blend of 90.5% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9.5% Merlot, and .5% Petit Verdot hit 14.4% natural alcohol and represents a tiny 36% of their entire production. The pH is about 3.6, which is normal compared to the 3.8 pH of the 2009, that wine being slightly lower in alcohol, hence the combination that makes it more flamboyant and accessible. The 2010 is a liquid skyscraper in the mouth, building layers upon layers of extravagant, if not over-the-top richness with its hints of subtle charcoal, truffle, blackberry, cassis, espresso and notes of toast and graphite. Full-bodied, with wonderfully sweet tannin, it is a mind-boggling, prodigious achievement that should hit its prime in about 15 years, and last for 50 to 100.There is no denying the outrage and recriminations over the decision by the Pinault family and their administrator, Frederic Engerer, to pull Latour off the futures market next year. However, you can still buy these 2010s, although the first two wines are not likely to be released until they have more maturity, which makes sense from my perspective. Perhaps Latour may have offended a few loyal customers who were buying wines as futures, but they are trying to curtail all the interim speculation that occurs with great vintages of their wines (although only God knows what a great vintage of future Latour will bring at seven or eight years after the harvest). As a set of wines, the 2010s may be the Pinaults’ and Engerer’s greatest achievements to date. Of course, I suspect the other first-growth families won’t want to hear that, nor will most of the negociants in Bordeaux, but it’s just the way things are. Frederic Engerer, by no means the most modest of administrators at the first growths, thinks it would be virtually impossible to produce a wine better than this, and he may well be correct. If they gave out Academy Awards for great performances in wine, the Pinaults and Engerer would certainly fetch a few in 2010. P.S. Just so you don’t worry, Engerer offered up the 2009 next to the 2010 to see if I thought it was still a 100-point wine, and yes, ladies and gentlemen, it still is.Robert Parker | 100 RPThe 2010 Latour is conspicuously deep in colour. It has an intellectual, intense and captivating bouquet with mineral-rich black fruit, graphite and crushed rose petal scents. Utterly spellbinding. The palate is the real deal. Heavenly balance, perfect acidity with seamlessly integrated new oak, there is an enthralling crescendo towards a finish that is simply as good as Bordeaux gets. Impeccable. Tasted blind at Farr Vintners 10-Year On Bordeaux horizontal.Vinous Media | 100 VMI get the same peony and violet aromatics here as I did in Forts de Latour. This is powerful, muscular, not even getting close to being ready. The tannins crowd in from the mid palate onwards, extremely physical in the way they make their presence felt. Behind them, if you give the wine enough time in the glass, it gives black pepper spice, pencil lead, slate and compressed earth, along with cassis, bilberry and all the tight compact dark-berried fruits you can think of. Don’t even consider this for another five years at least. This is a monumental Latour and a flashing signpost for how good this vintage is in Pauillac. Drinking Window 2025 - 2050Decanter | 100 DECThe aromas of flowers such as roses, violets and lilacs jump from the glass then turn to dark berries such as blueberries and blackberries. It’s full-bodied, with velvety tannins and dense and intense with a chocolate, berry and currant character. This is juicy and rich with wood still showing a bit, but it’s all coming together wonderfully. Muscular yet toned. Another perfect wine like the 2010. Try in 2022.James Suckling | 100 JSUnbelievably pure, with distilled cassis and plum fruit that cuts a very precise path, while embers of anise, violet and black cherry confiture form a gorgeous backdrop. A bedrock of graphite structure should help this outlive other 2010s. Powerful, sleek and incredibly long. Not perfect, but very close. Best from 2020 through 2050.Wine Spectator | 99 WSStern, almost severe initially, this great wine takes time to show its immense fruit power. Black currant and blackberry notes are packed into the wine, along with an impressive array of spices from new wood that gives a more exotic element. At the end, though, it has a fine, structured sense of proportion. Obviously for aging over decades, so don’t drink before 2022.Wine Enthusiast | 99 WE(Château Latour) The 2010 Château Latour is another very, very powerful example of the vintage, and while the wine is impeccably balanced and does not show a single strand of hair out of place, at 14.4 percent alcohol, it must be at least three-quarters of a percent headier than the legendary 2009 Latour. The result to my palate is a wine that is even more powerful than its predecessor, but also less precisely mineral on the backend and a half step behind the 2009 as a result. The bouquet of the 2010 Latour is deep, ripe and very pure, as it offers up scents of sappy cassis, black cherries, espresso, a touch of dark chocolate, Cuban cigars, gravelly soil tones and a fine base of cedary new oak. On the palate the wine is full-bodied, very powerful and ripely tannic, with impeccable balance, a bottomless core of fruit, very good balance and a very long, chewy and palate-staining finish. The ripeness of the 2010 vintage is most evident here on the backend, where the mineral lift of the much more transparent 2009 Latour is clearly absent in the 2010. This is still an absolutely superb wine by any stretch of the imagination, with no signs of heat or overripe flavors, but it is just a tad blurry and fruit-driven on the backend from the additional ripeness of the vintage. (Drink between 2030-2100)John Gilman | 95 JG

One the finest Clerc Milons I have ever tasted, and showing better from bottle than from barrel, this blend of 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 36% Merlot, 11% Cabernet Franc and the rest a tiny bit of Carmenere and Petit Verdot has a complex nose of cedar wood, red and black fruits, white chocolate and creme de cassis. A very powerful wine at 14.5% natural alcohol (quite high for a Medoc), this wine has impressive purity and texture, a full-bodied mouthfeel, relatively sweet tannin, but an already endearing complexity, length and richness that are hard to ignore. This is a superb effort and one of the wines that is usually reasonably priced among the classified growths.Robert Parker | 94 RPRock-solid, with layers of baker’s chocolate and espresso lining the steeped plum and blackberry fruit flavors while intense charcoal fills in on the hefty finish. Backward now, but showing excellent intensity and dark fruit, with a tug of singed iron on the finish. Best from 2018 through 2030. Tasted twice, with consistent notes.Wine Spectator | 94 WSOpulent aromas of plum, blackberry and cassis reveal a still tannic and dense palate: needs five more years to enter a proper drinking window. Though not yet reaching the heights of later vintages (the new winery opened in 2011), 2010 is a star. Given cooler clay soils, the grapes ripen later than at Mouton Rothschild, under the same ownership, but the long hang time of 2010 ensured ripening. Aged beef sirloin in a peppercorn sauce pairs well. (Drink between 2021-2050)Decanter | 94 DECGorgeous currants and spices with licorice on the nose. Full body, with super integrated tannins and a long, long finish. The texture and beautiful fruit just wants you to drink this. Give it time but hard to wait. Try in 2016.James Suckling | 94 JSConfirming its place in the firmament of Pauillac greats, Clerc Milon’s 2010 has huge density, and is packed with dark tannins and blackberry flavor. It has a delicious freshness that cuts right through, lifting the concentration. With its tannins, this promises long-term aging.Wine Enthusiast | 94 WEThe 2010 Clerc-Milon has a superior bouquet compared to the d’Armailhac with greater precision and purity, gorgeous blackberry, raspberry and cedar, actually not a million miles away from Duhart in style. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannins, beautifully balanced with just a touch of bell pepper on the finish. This is just beginning to drink well. Tasted from an ex-château bottle at the BI Wines & Spirits 10-Year On tasting.Vinous Media | 92 VM

From a great, great vintage for all of Bordeaux, the 2010 Pavie Decesse is based on 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc that emerges from a vineyard sitting just above Chateau Pavie and was raised in new French oak. This inky beauty is still a baby yet offers incredible opulence in its huge nose of blackcurrants, blueberries, scorched earth, woodsmoke, chocolate, and graphite. With a distinct sense of minerality, full-bodied richness, building tannins, good acidity, and a monster of a finish, it is accessible today in a youthful sense yet needs another decade at a minimum to approach maturity. It will be a 50-60+ year wine.Jeb Dunnuck | 98+ JDThis is fascinating with a nutty, dried herb, spices, berry and hints of toasted character. Full body, with chewy tannins and a long, long finish. This has a wonderful density of fruit and length. Amazing. Try in 2020.James Suckling | 97 JSA Blend of 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc, with 14.5% natural alcohol, the higher percentage of Merlot in this wine than in the Pavie gives it a stunning opulence, thickness and luxuriousness. Opaque purple, with notes of mulberry and kirsch liqueur leaning toward blacker fruits, subtle smoked meats and some lead pencil and vanillin, this is another brawny, full-bodied, yet remarkably precise and fresh style of wine despite its sensational extract and power. Give it 5-6 years of cellaring and drink it over the following 30-40 years.This vineyard has shrunk, as part of it was incorporated into its more famous sibling, Chateau Pavie. It is now 8.5 acres sitting slightly higher on the slope above Pavie.Robert Parker | 96 RP(15% alcohol): Saturated dark ruby. High-toned aromas of cassis, black raspberry, bitter chocolate and crushed-rock minerality. Layered and powerful on the palate, but with highly concentrated cassis, black raspberry and dark chocolate flavors energized by pungent chalky minerality and strong acidity. One feels the 15% alcohol in the wine’s sheer size and chewy texture but the impressively long finish shows more tangy energy than heat. Needs five or six years of patience, but this comes across as considerably less tanninc and forbidding than the Pavie.Vinous Media | 94 VMHedonist alert—dense, fleshy layers of fig sauce, warm cocoa, dark currant confiture and exotic spice fill this red, which also shows plenty of grip, with a smoldering wood note on the back end.Wine Spectator | 93-96 WS

A wine that could easily be mistaken for a First Growth, the 2010 Rauzan-Ségla is an incredibly powerful, full-bodied wine by this estate’s standards, yet it nevertheless holds onto a terrific sense of elegance as well as perfect balance. A huge nose of blackcurrants, smoked earth, tobacco, lead pencil, and spice give way to a concentrated, blockbuster styled Margaux that has thrilling depth of fruit, masses of ripe tannins, and great length and finesse on the finish. This brilliant wine is just now seemingly on the edge of its drink window and offers immense pleasure, yet it has another 30-40 years of life ahead of it. Along with the 2015 and 2016, it’s the greatest wine made at this estate in the past two decades.Jeb Dunnuck | 98 JDDeep garnet in color, the 2010 Rauzan-Ségla is youthfully reticent and closed to begin, slowly unfurling to offer notions of underbrush, black truffles, smoked meats and tar over a core of baked black cherries, prunes and crème de cassis plus touches of iron ore and crushed rocks. Full-bodied, concentrated and jam-packed with savory/earthy fruit, it has a rock-solid structure of firm, grainy tannins and oodles of freshness, finishing with great length and expression.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 96 RPOne of the top Margaux wines, this is in top form, finely balanced and as elegant as it is powerful. It is darkly structured, dense yet balancing tannins with ripe black plums. It expresses the complexity of the vintage. A wine for serious, long-term aging.Wine Enthusiast | 96 WEThe 2010 Rauzan-Ségla has a wonderful bouquet, very pure and engaging with wild strawberry, blackberry, rose petals and boysenberry jam. It just feels very focused and beautifully delineated. The palate is medium-bodied with lively red and black fruit laced with cracked black pepper and cedar. It is extremely balanced, almost symmetrical, with a precise and persistent finish. Bon vin. Tasted blind at Farr Vintners 10-Year On Bordeaux horizontal.Vinous Media | 95 VMFlashy style of Margaux, with alluring warm cocoa and black tea aromatics followed by cashmere-textured plum sauce, steeped fig and blackberry confiture notes. The well-integrated structure makes this seem almost accessible now, but the ample length and a smoldering tobacco note make a case for cellaring. Best from 2014 through 2030. 9,666 cases made.Wine Spectator | 94 WSThere’s a wonderful deep and dark fruit to this second wine from Rauzan Segla, with hints of soft tannins. Lovely ripe fruit and a chocolate, light raisin at the end.James Suckling | 90-91 JS(Château Rauzan-Ségla) The 2010 Château Rauzan-Ségla is another fine example of the vintage, but much like the 2010 Château Rauzan-Gassies, a completely traditional approach once again in the cellars here would pay dividends in terms of even more profound expression of terroir. The bouquet on the 2010 is a very classy blend of cassis, dark berries, tobacco, gravelly soil tones, classy new wood and a smoky topnote. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, complex and sappy at the core, with fine focus and a fair bit of firm, slightly dry-edged tannins on the long and bouncy finish. A touch of the tannins here seem derived already from the new wood, but the overall balance is splendid and this wine should have no difficulty carrying its wood over the long haul. A very successful, ever so slightly “overly-polished” example of the vintage. (Drink between 2020 - 2050)John Gilman | 90+ JG

The 2010 Proprietary Red is very deep garnet colored with a hint of purple. It offers up wonderfully bold, expressive notes of crème de cassis, black cherry compote and mincemeat pie with wafts of bay leaves, incense, Chinese five spice and hoisin plus wafts of chargrill and yeast extract. Full-bodied, rich and opulent, the palate is laden with layer upon layer of exotic spice-laced black fruits with a firm yet plush frame and very long finish with some licorice notes coming through.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 97 RPFull medium ruby. Very ripe but reticent scents of black fruits, minerals, mocha, espresso and spices. Voluptuous and plush on entry, saturating the palate with a slightly unrefined wave of black fruits, minerals and mocha. This outsized, full-bodied, plummy wine shows lovely mineral verve, surprisingly restrained sweetness and a complicating saline element. Finishes with sumptuous, building tannins and terrific plum and graphite persistence. This wine is ripe enough to give great pleasure now but I’d still hold my bottles for the tannins to be further absorbed. It certainly has the stuffing to go on for many more years.Vinous Media | 94 VMA big and rich red with black currant and blueberry and chocolate. Full and vast. A more typical Napa cab of the period. Drink or hold.James Suckling | 94 JS

Power combined with elegance in the 2010. A dusting of dark cocoa powder, cola, mint, exotic sweet spices, caramel, toast and blackcurrants on the nose. Juicy and vibrant, more lean than I was expecting, tannins are fine and supportive with clear austerity and bitterness around the edge, giving a spiced frame that lets the fruit pulse through the middle. This is certainly on the intense side, but not weighty at all, concentration balanced by high acidity and a lovely stony minerality underneath that, really puts you in St-Emilion on the terroir. Direct and focussed, precise and lifted with a minty, liquorice finish. Feels like a very representative TrotteVieille though give this more time before opening.Decanter | 96 DECAn extracted wine, showing bitter chocolate as much as fruit. There is a core of dark tannins, very firm, with licorice, wood and a tight texture. Often Trottevieille shows this austerity when young, and this 2010 is no exception. It will develop slowly into a serious and concentrated wine.Wine Enthusiast | 93 WEComposed of 58% Cabernet Franc and 42% Merlot, the 2010 Trotte Vieille is deep garnet in color and starts off with some sweaty leather notions on the nose, giving way to a core of baked black plums, dried mulberries and fruitcake plus wafts of fallen leaves and tobacco. Full-bodied, the palate has a taut line of chewy tannins and oodles of freshness supporting the baked berry layers, finishing long and earthy.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 91 RPThe 2010 Trotte Vieille is very ripe and almost Mediterranean in style on the nose: black olives and liquorice infusing the rich red fruit, just a hint of hung game in the background. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannins, fleshy and generous, almost Châteauneuf in style with a pinch of spicebox and sage towards the finish. Drinking perfectly now, but where is it going to go? Tasted blind at Farr Vintners 10-Year On Bordeaux horizontal.Vinous Media | 91 VMDark and ripe, but nicely polished, with a dark tea and roasted cedar frame to the currant paste and fig notes. The solid finish is well-coated with ganache and smolders nicely with a lingering tobacco hint that should emerge steadily in this slightly old-school version. Best from 2014 through 2025.Wine Spectator | 91 WS

This is considered to be among the greatest vintages ever made in Montrose, right up with the 1929, 1945, 1947, 1959, 1961, 1989, 1990 and 2009. Harvest was October 15 to 17. The wine has really come on since I last tasted it, and it needs at least another 10 years of cellaring. The blend was 53% Cabernet Sauvignon, 37% Merlot, 9% Cabernet Franc and 1% Petit Verdot. The wine is opaque black/blue, with an incredible nose of blueberry and blackberry liqueur, with hints of incense, licorice, and acacia flowers. Tannins are incredibly sweet and very present. The wine is full-bodied, even massive, with great purity, depth and a finish that goes on close to a minute. This is a 50- to 75-year-old wine that will repay handsomely those with good aging genes. (Note: The Chateau Montrose website gives an aging potential of 2020-2100.Robert Parker | 100 RPThe 2010 Montrose is insanely beautiful. A vivid, eternal wine, the 2010 dazzles right out of the gate with its explosive energy. Soaring floral and mineral notes are immediately captivating on the bouquet. All that carries through to the palate, where the wine is dense and expansive. Readers lucky enough to own it should be thrilled. This really benefits from aeration. What a wine! Vinous Media | 100 VMFabulous inky rich depths to the colour here, and right off the nose you feel it enticing you in. Spice is evident, as are the ripples of muscles and walls. This is in the Lynch Bages school of not being ready yet, the tannins are still fully standing to attention. Fruit is dark, tight, hiding its fleshier side for now, and it is extremely clear that this is a vintage with ambition and no intention of going anywhere for many decades. A great wine, needs to be opened for five to six hours if drinking soon, but my suggestion would be to put it away for another three or four years at least. Drinking Window 2022 - 2050Decanter | 98 DECRock solid, displaying a dense core of plum, steeped currant and braised fig fruit, with racy charcoal and ganache notes. Intensely chalky, offering flesh and refinement to match the bracing minerality, this shows hints of grilled savory, iron, warm paving stone and bitter orange on the riveting finish. Should age very slowly. Best from 2019 through 2038.Wine Spectator | 97 WSA perfumed and pure Montrose, with lots of currants, berries and spices that evolve to chocolate and light coffee. Full body, with super racy tannins and bright and clean finish. Very fine and structured. A balance and freshness to it all as well as beautiful form and tension. Try in 2018.James Suckling | 97 JSThis is such an elegant wine that has all the structure of the vintage. Surrounding the tannins, the wine is sweet and ripe, with smokiness from the wood. It’s powerful, elegant and sophisticated with a strong sense of poise. The tannins promise long-term aging.Wine Enthusiast | 96 WE(Château Montrose) The 2010 Montrose is another very, very good example of the vintage, but I suspect it will always have to live in the long shadow of the 2008 and 2009 wines from this estate. The wine is probably a tad riper than the 2009, as it weighs in at 13.6 percent, and at this very early date, it seems to have lost just a touch of focus and delineation at this slightly higher octane level. The bouquet is certainly deep and impressively complex out of the blocks, as it offers up scents of sweet cassis, dark berries, Cuban cigar ash, espresso, gravel, lead pencil and a bit of singed earth. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and truly massive in shape, with impeccable balance, a superb core, very substantial, but well-integrated tannins, tangy acids and outstanding length and grip on the powerful finish. There is a fine spine of minerality in the 2010 Montrose that promises very fine evolution on into the future, but the ripeness here seems to have taken just a touch of backend lift away from the wine in this vintage. It is a very good wine, and it may prove that after it has fifteen or twenty years of bottle age on it, I will have underrated it a bit. But at this stage, as good as the 2010 Montrose is, I would rather own the superb 2008 or 2009 vintages from this great estate. (Drink between 2027-2100)John Gilman | 93+ JG

Clinet has produced a blockbuster wine, even in the lighter, less consistent vintage of 2011. It reveals a dense purple color as well as an abundance of black cherry, black currant and blackberry fruit intermixed with licorice, incense and a touch of camphor. Full-bodied, opulent and fleshy with a substantial finish, this showy, dramatic 2011 should drink well for 15-20 years. Brilliant!Robert Parker | 95 RPThis is alluring, with lovely blackberry, boysenberry and fig pâte de fruit flavors gliding along, lined with subtle charcoal and black tea notes and carrying through to a lush yet defined finish. A hedonist’s delight on the surface, offering inlaid grip for balance. Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc. Best from 2015 through 2030. 4,580 cases made.Wine Spectator | 93 WSThis is a rich Pomerol for the vintage with plenty of berry, chocolate and toasted-oak character. Full body with round, soft tannins. Needs two or three years to come together.James Suckling | 92 JSBlackberry fruits dominate this ripe wine. It is already delicious, with a round and well-cushioned structure.Wine Enthusiast | 92 WEThe 2011 Clinet has a perfumed nose, quite floral and perhaps more Saint-Émilion in style rather than Pomerol, though I appreciate its mineral undertow. The palate is medium-bodied with slightly more pliant tannins, fresher than its peers with spicy red fruit with a bitter but focused finish. This is a fine Clinet that is drinking perfectly now, though many vintages surpass this in recent years. Tasted blind at the annual 10-Year-On tasting.Vinous Media | 90 VM

A big, broad, powerful style, with piecrust, roasted almond and hazelnut cream notes framing the core of apricot, creamed peach and dried mango. Picks up extra fig and pear details through the toasty finish. Needs a bit of time to finish sorting itself out. Best from 2017 through 2030. 5,415 cases made.Wine Spectator | 96 WSThe dried-mango and pineapple character is so delicious in this wine. It’s full-bodied and medium-sweet, with a pretty density and a fruity finish. Wonderful balance to this super Sauternes. This is a little in reserve now, with so much for the future. Try in 2017.James Suckling | 96 JSTasted blind at the Sauternes 2011 horizontal tasting. The Château Suduiraut 2011 has a muffled nose at first: dried honey and quince, wet wool and marzipan scents that gradually open up with aeration. Coming back after 10 minutes there is a heartwarming gingerbread note. The palate is viscous on the entry and full of tension. There is a keen line of acidity here, quite linear at first, but it fans out nicely toward the finish and offers notes of honey, mandarin and even a touch of rhubarb! This is a class act, a Sauternes that does not need to shout about its inherent qualities.Robert Parker Neal Martin | 93 RP-NMHeady apricot and mango nose. Concentrated and creamy, with density and weight of fruit. The oak is integrated and the wine is harmonious in a rich rather than racy style. Long. Drinking Window 2016 - 2050.Decanter | 93 DEC(Château Suduiraut (Sauternes)) The 2011 Suduiraut is one of the most delicately styled and dancing wines of the vintage in Sauternes. The deep, pure and very clean nose soars from the glass in a classically glazed mélange of bee pollen, pear, fresh pineapple, honeycomb, chalky soil tones, apple blossoms and vanillin oak. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, very pure and crisp, with very good mid-palate depth, fine focus and balance and a very long, light on its feet and complex finish. I really like the elegant style and shape of the 2011 Suduiraut. (Drink between 2016-2040)John Gilman | 93+ JGVery fresh and strongly fruity, with just the right amount of dry botrytis, this is already approachable. However that botrytis does promise aging, with peach and ripe orange flavors pushing forward. Drink this attractive wine from 2019.Wine Enthusiast | 93 WEThe 2011 Suduiraut, picked from 12 September to 5 October in three tries through the vineyard, has an intriguing bouquet. It does not possess the thrilling intensity of the 2014 and 2015 tasted alongside, replicating the wet wool, almost Loire-like bouquet that I picked up upon in previous encounters. The palate is well balanced with a slightly viscous texture. This is a gentle Suduiraut, missing the complexity of a top vintage but fresh and generous. It is linear in style, some might say conservative with just a touch of gingerbread on the finish. Fine. 148gm/L residual sugar, 13.5% alcohol. Tasted at the Suduiraut vertical at the château.Vinous Media | 92 VM

The blend for this wine, whose fruit is dried for three months, is 55 per cent Corvina, 15 per cent Rondinella, 20 per cent Croatina and 10 per cent Oseleta; all the vines are at least 10 years old. A black wine, and a velvet nosebox: pressed black fruits, seeping with fruit essences; smoke and cinders; herbal complexities; teasing floral notes, too, to lighten the tone a little. The alcohol level on the label might lead you to expect a gobstopper – so you’ll be taken aback by the fine-milled elegance of this wine, by its disposition and organization, by its fleet-footed elegance and freshness, even though its concentration, power and textural presence make it a wine of absolute authority. There isn’t a trace of superfluous fat in the mid-palate – though it’s tongue-coating, head-turning, inspiring: a gathering of sumptuous fruited energies. “It’s very difficult to for my father to feel happy about any of his wines; he’s very critical,” said Michele. “But with this vintage, he didn’t have anything to say.”Decanter | 99 DECThis is a real bruiser of a wine, and it marks the first of three excellent back-to-back vintages (2011, 2012 and 2013). The growing season was full of surprises and many farming decisions had to be made at the spur of the moment. The 2011 growing season started off cool, but there was an explosion of heat in mid-August that remained intense until a final cooling period at harvest. Fruit ripening had been behind schedule, but that August heat helped to pick up the pace. (By the way, this is also the year Michele Dal Forno got married). The 2011 Amarone della Valpolicella Monte Lodoletta is an incredible wine that has magically managed to maintain the fresh acidity associated with the cooler part of the growing season. It also shows the inky black concentration and ripeness that is reflective of the hottest part of the summer. I am impressed by the tannic management, as the wine is silky and fine at this young stage; however, the underlying structure promises a long aging future, should you chose to put your bottle aside. Overall, this vintage is slightly more accessible and ready to drink if you don’t have the patience for cellar aging.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 97 RPFully saturated ruby. Very deep, intense aromas of blackcurrant, plums macerated in alcohol, soy sauce, coffee and underbrush on the complex nose. Rich, dense and balanced, with nicely focused flavors of dark berries and aromatic herbs that have a noteworthy savory tang. The long finish features repeating hints of soy sauce, espresso and underbrush. Dal Forno’s is the recognized master of a uniquely powerful, ripe, and concentrated style of Amarone.Vinous Media | 95+ VMSweet smoke, Asian five-spice powder and cacao accents mix with crème de cassis, cured tobacco and anise notes in this seamless, full-bodied red. A dense and concentrated version, with a long, savory finish firmed by supple, well-knit tannins. Drink now through 2030. 250 cases imported.Wine Spectator | 95 WSVery dark fruits on the nose with hints of bark and dried flowers. Full body, soft and silky tannins with a chewy finish. Loads of dark chocolate and berry. Flavorful and balanced. Drink now.James Suckling | 95 JS

A style that is a complete outlier. Easy to spot for those who have tasted it. Like entering a Moroccan souk to the smell of incense, sweet dates, clove and tamarind. Sweet and supple, with pixelated tannins and a waft of gentle freshness. Not the best vintage? Drink now. Alkina Grenache Assembly tasting.James Suckling | 96 JSBright ruby-red. An exotic bouquet presents black raspberry, incense, Asian spices and blood orange. On the palate, sweet red and dark berry flavors become more tangy and spicy with air. Shows an impressive blend of depth and vivacity and finishes with outstanding focus and thrust and gentle tannic grip. Evidently this wine didn’t get the memo that 2011 couldn’t produce outstanding wines.Vinous Media | 94 VMFrom a bottle purchased in the Rhône, the 2011 Châteauneuf Du Pape Reserve is a pretty, perfumed Rayas that shows the more moderately concentrated, open, and complex style of the vintage. Translucent ruby-hued, with a great nose of sweet kirsch liqueur, white pepper, dried flowers, and Provençal herbs, it hits the palate with medium-bodied richness, a layered, silky, seductive mouthfeel, soft tannins, and outstanding length. Almost reminding me of the 2008, it’s a much lighter style of Rayas that checks in well behind the truly great vintages here, but it still brings that “je ne sais quoi” Rayas character that’s impossible to find outside of this hollowed terroir. Enjoy bottles any time over the coming decade or so.Jeb Dunnuck | 91 JD

Beautiful orange-cherry color, exuding aromas of dried flowers, cherry stones, wild strawberries, cloves and cinnamon pastries. It’s medium-bodied with excellent weight and balance. Soft bubbles. Layers of soft, supple berry fruit. Pastries and walnuts come through on a seamless finish. Drink or hold.James Suckling | 96 JSThe 2011 Taittinger “Comtes de Champagne” Rosé is made from a blend of sixty percent pinot noir and forty percent chardonnay in this vintage, with twelve percent of the pinot noir being still red wine. It was given more than ten years aging sur latte in the cellars and finished with a dosage of nine grams per liter. The wine is a fairly deep salmon color and delivers a refined and very complex aromatic constellation of blood orange, strawberries, rhubarb, a beautiful base of chalky soil, rye bread, a hint of clove, gentle smokiness and a topnote of rose petals. On the palate the wine is precise, full-bodied and elegant, with a superb core of fruit, lovely soil inflection, refined mousse and a very long, complex and impeccably balanced finish. This is a stunning wine by any measure, but given how challenging the 2011 vintage was in Champagne, it is an absolute revelation! (Drink between 2023 - 2060)John Gilman | 96 JGA great rosé Champagne, this relies on balanced ripe fruits and a fine texture. It is both taut and full of berry and citrus flavors that give richness to the wine. It is mature, but that has hardly dented the wine’s fruitiness and texture. Drink now. Wine Enthusiast | 96 WEDisgorged in October 2022, the 2011 Brut Comtes de Champagne Rosé is a blend of 40% Chardonnay and 60% Pinot Noir, including fully 14% of red wine that lends it notable depth of color this year. Evoking aromas of cherries, buttery pastry, raspberries and tangerine, with an attractive minty top note, the bouquet is complex and incipiently spicy. Medium to full-bodied, layered and vinous, with chalky structuring extract, it concludes with a long, sapid finish. The limitations of the vintage mean that this is a giving, rather open-knit Comtes Rosé, but it is nevertheless a great effort in a challenging year and exhibits none of the herbaceous qualities that mar some of the wines produced in this year. Drink it now and over the next decade.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 94 RPA chalky rosé Champagne, with raw silk–like texture, this leads with hints of smoke, oyster shell and dried thyme, followed by a savory streak that underscores the palate’s dried raspberry, blood orange peel and blanched almond flavors. Fresh and focused through to the lightly spiced finish. Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Drink now through 2030.Wine Spectator | 94 WS

The 2011 Amarone della Valpolicella Classico Ambrosan wafts up extorverted and opulent, with exotic spices and medicinal cherries giving way to mocha and sweet pipe tobacco. This is silky-smooth and soothing, balancing both savory and sweet while coming across as autumnal in character, as rosy inner florals form. There is so much depth and focus here, showing citrus-tinged plum skins with coffee grinds and dark chocolate. This just goes on and on, lightly structured and incredibly long yet balanced. The 2011 Ambrosan is a thrilling wine to taste.Vinous Media | 96 VMVery pretty balance of fruit and tannins with freshness and finesse. Medium-bodied with beautiful, round and polished tannins. Really refined and elegant with lovely length. Drink now.James Suckling | 94 JSCedar, dark-skinned fruit and vanilla aromas form the nose on this hearty red. The chewy palate offers baked plum, coconut and star anise alongside pliant tannins. Drink through 2026.Wine Enthusiast | 91 WE

As for the 2012 La Mission Haut Brion, this wine (41% of the total production) continues to perform as it has for nearly a century. At first-growth levels of quality, this is s stunning wine that is full-bodied and very concentrated with notes of graphite, subtle charcoal embers, crème de cassis, blackberry and underlying subtle earthiness. The wine is full and powerful, rich and concentrated. And sure enough, the alcohol level tips the scales at 15% from a blend 62% Merlot and 38% Cabernet Franc. This is a big, blockbuster La Mission Haut Brion that should age effortlessly for 30-40+ years. However, the tannins suggest that this wine should not be touched for another 5-6 years, as its one of the more backward of the 2012 Pessac-Léognans. Bravo!Robert Parker | 97 RPContinuing to show brilliantly, the 2012 Chateau La Mission Haut-Brion is a quintessential Graves, boasting a deep purple color as well as heavenly aromatics of blackcurrants, tobacco, scorched earth, graphite, and licorice. It’s a big, full-bodied beauty yet has a weightless, elegant style, building tannins, and a great finish. It needs a solid hour in a decanter if drinking today and promises to evolve beautifully for another 3-4 decades.Jeb Dunnuck | 97 JDOne of the clear wines of the vintage, the 2012 La Mission Haut-Brion shows off a vertical sense of structure along with imposing tannins and serious depth. The flavors are dark, bold and extremely vivid. Dark red cherry, smoke, grilled herbs, graphite and blackberry jam are some of the many notes that come alive on the finish. This brooding La Mission needs a few years to settle down after which it will offer spectacular drinking for several decades. In a word: magnificent!Antonio Galloni | 96 AG(Château La Mission Haut-Brion, Pessac-Léognan, Bordeaux, France, Red) Ripe roasted fruit with considerable extract and personality. Full, powerful mid-palate and length of flavour. This benefited in 2012 from the property’s early-ripening terroir. (Drink between 2022-2042)Decanter | 96 DECThis is closed up, dry and tough on the outside. But you can feel the rich weight and the dark tannins along with the powerful structure. That makes this wine both replete with a firm character and also full of generous, concentrated black fruits. It’s a powerful wine, ready for good aging; drink from 2022.Wine Enthusiast | 96 WEGorgeous aromas of stones, currants and blueberries. Very aromatic. Mesmerizing. Full body, silky tannins and a long finish. Dense and rich. Layered. Earth and bark character. Lots of structure for the vintage. Better in 2019.James Suckling | 94 JSThe rigid tar and bramble frame should eventually meld with the core of plum, blackberry and macerated black currant fruit, featuring ample energy and a graphite note through the finish. Just a little bit of patience required here. Best from 2018 through 2025. 5,176 cases made.Wine Spectator | 93 WS

A gorgeous wine from proprietor Denis Durantou, this blend of 85% Merlot and 15% Cabernet Franc is an inky purple color, with gorgeous purity of black raspberries, blackcurrants and blackberry with a hint of truffle and spring flowers. Its is full-bodied, opulent and a tour de force in this vintage. Great presence on the palate, fabulous purity and a long finish make for a magnificent bottle of wine to drink over the next 20-some years.Robert Parker | 96 RPThe 2012 L’Eglise Clinet is a real head-turner. Explosive and rich in the glass, the 2012 boasts superb depth throughout. Sweet floral and spiced notes develop first, followed by intense red and blue-fleshed fruit. Violets, mint, sage and sweet spices add nuance as the 2012 opens up, but it is really the wine’s vertical structure that stands out above all else. I very much like the pure energy that is so central to the wine’s personality. This is a superb showing, and one of the clear highlights of the year. Readers should cellar the 2012 for at least a few years.Antonio Galloni | 95 AGThis delivers a gorgeously pure and racy core of raspberry, boysenberry and blackberry fruit, melded perfectly with singed black tea leaf, dried star anise and roasted apple wood notes. Velvety and alluring overall, but there’s a bright minerality buried on the finish. Best from 2016 through 2027. 1,417 cases made.Wine Spectator | 94 WSRich, ripe and dense. Expressive red berry nose with toasted oak evident. Sweet, plush mid-palate (heightened by 14.5% alcohol although that doesn’t show). Long, firm finish. A touch dry on the end. Drinking Window 2020 - 2032.Decanter | 91 DEC

The wine of the vintage is the Perrin’s 2012 Châteauneuf du Pape Hommage A Jacques Perrin, and it will most likely merit a perfect rating in another couple of years. Full-bodied, massive and layered on the palate, with awesome purity and freshness, it delivers incredible aromatics of beef blood, truffle, graphite, iron and black and blue fruits. Given all of the fruit and texture, you almost have to hunt for the structure here, but trust me, it’s there. The tasting at Beaucastel took place a 9 a.m., and even then, this is one wine I found impossible to spit. It’s a tour de force that will have 3-4 decades of life.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 99 RPThe wine of the vintage is the Perrins’ 2012 Châteauneuf du Pape Hommage A Jacques Perrin, which has a classic, sexy, accessible style yet is also going to age beautifully. Massive amounts of smoked black fruits, ground pepper, iodine, truffle, and bloody meat all emerge from this inky colored behemoth. With full body, building tannins, no hard edges, and a rock star of a finish, it’s primary and youthful, but incredible. Ideally, it would be given another 4-5 years of bottle age and will keep for another 3 decades or more. It’s an awesome wine!Jeb Dunnuck | 99 JDSpice, lift and zest - the hallmarks of the vintage are immediately apparent on the nose. Some woody, roasted spices are starting to take root now, along with damsons, and crushed damson stones. Rounded, rich and plush on the palate, all very well integrated, such delicious, intense juice. The alcohol is high but it gives the wine its foundation this year - a jolly, red-cheeked vintage built around alcohol, but not dominated by it. Delicious now, will be even better later. Drinking Window 2020 - 2036Decanter | 99 DECLots of spices such as cloves and black pepper. Some grilled meat as well. Complex undertones of mushrooms. Full-bodied, complex and refined yet very open now with cherry, sweet and ripe fruit and a balanced finish. Excellent acidity and length. Drink or hold.James Suckling | 97 JSDark purple. Powerful aromas of cherry liqueur, licorice pastille and pungent flowers, with exotic Indian spice and mocha overtones. Dense, sweet and broad, offering intense black and blue fruit preserve, violet and spicecake flavors enlivened by juicy acidity. Fine-grained tannins build slowly through the clinging, appealingly sweet finish, which shows outstanding clarity and persistence and lingering florality. One of the standouts of the vintage and surprisingly approachable for this bottling, although drinking it before its tenth birthday would seem like a shame to me.Vinous Media | 96 VMSerious, with dark fig, black currant and blackberry confiture notes forming a large-scale core, while licorice snap, Turkish coffee and pastis details lend an expansive feel. The long, dense finish has a brooding personality now, with a warm cast-iron note echoing. Should be a stunner when it reaches its peak. Best from 2019 through 2032. 500 cases made.Wine Spectator | 96 WS

The 2012 IX Proprietary Red Estate, which comes from their gorgeous hillside vineyards overlooking Lake Hennessey high on Pritchard Hill, is a blend of 62% Cabernet Sauvignon, 19% Merlot, 11% Cabernet Franc and 8% Petit Verdot. Absolutely spectacular aromatics of spring flowers, blueberry, blackberry and blackcurrant fruit intermixed with creosote, graphite and floral notes are followed by a wine of great depth, elegance, richness and purity. Simply loaded, but with pristine harmony and equilibrium, this is a sensational tour de force and a great tribute to this spectacular hillside site on Pritchard Hill. Drink it over the next 25-35 years.Robert Parker | 99 RPWinemaker Allison Tauziet commented that after 2011, the vines had lots of energy going into 2012, and the team had to do lots of canopy management and crop thinning. The 2012 IX Estate is show-stopping juice and offers an incredible array of cassis and currant-like fruits as well as truffle, iron, and spring flowers. A blend of 62% Cabernet Sauvignon, 19% Merlot, 11% Cabernet Franc, and the rest Petit Verdot, this full-bodied, deep, layered, utterly compelling Napa red is just now at the early stages of its prime drink window and has another 2-3 decades of life. As with the 2013 IX Estate, it reminds me of a 2009 First Growth from Bordeaux.Jeb Dunnuck | 99 JDFabulous intensity and energy to this young red with wet earth, violets, blackcurrants, black olives, sweet tobacco, blackberries. It’s so complex. Full-bodied and very deep with incredible depth and richness. Give it four and five years to come together.James Suckling | 98 JSDeep garnet-purple colored, the 2022 IX Estate features bold, expressive notes of crème de cassis, blueberry pie, and plum preserves, giving way to hints of menthol, mossy tree bark, black olives, and iron ore. The full-bodied palate is characteristically rich and dense with great depth and wonderfully fine-grained tannins, matched by beautifully knit freshness, finishing long and minerally.The Wine Independent | 98+ TWIThe 2012 IX Estate is the biggest and most powerful of these wines. Firm tannins provide the backdrop for a huge core of fruit as this creamy, voluptuous Cabernet Sauvignon-based blend shows off its considerable personality. Game, smoke and tobacco add nuance on the finish. The IX Estate brings together some of the sensuality of Tychson Hill along with a level of vibrancy that recalls the Cariad. If that sounds appealing, well, it is.Vinous Media | 96 VMFeatures an expressive mix of flavors built around dried currant, dusty, cedary oak, a gravel pit of newly crushed rock and melted black licorice. Shows impressive finesse and refinement. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. Drink now through 2028. 1,400 cases made.Wine Spectator | 94 WSLike the Tychson Hill from this vintage, the IX Estate has reticent aromas of red as well as black fruits, as well as hints of tobacco and mint. Broad and fleshy, it still shows admirable freshness and vigour. Although not excessively concentrated, it doesn’t lack grip, yet it does tail off slightly on the finish.Decanter | 93 DEC

There are 5,180 six-bottle cases of the 2012 Padrone. This is a fabulous wine, meant to evolve over three decades. It offers up notes of charcoal, scorched earth, blackcurrant, blackberry, chocolate and a touch of espresso. A wine of great intensity, full-bodied opulence and a multilayered mouthfeel, this is a formidably endowed, serious Cabernet Sauvignon-dominated wine from vineyards with some of the best fruit on the estate. Drink it over the next 30 years.Robert Parker | 97+ RPThe 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon Estate Padrone is dark and sumptuous from start to finish. Mocha, plums, smoke, new leather and French oak all flesh out in this brooding, intense Cabernet Sauvignon. The style is explosive and full of 2012 vintage exuberance. There is a lot to look forward to.Antonio Galloni | 90-92 AG

The 2012 Cheval Blanc boasts stunning power and a vertical, imposing sense of structure that is quite rare in this vintage. Dark and almost brooding in style, the Cheval is a rare 2012 that absolutely demands cellaring. Smoke, tobacco, incense and dark spices open up with time, but the 2012 is a reticent, tannic wine that is only showing the barest hints of its ultimate potential. This is a magnificent showing and one of the clear highlights of the year.Antonio Galloni | 97 AGA step up over the 2011, the 2012 Chateau Cheval Blanc offers a similar medium to full-bodied, elegant style yet has slightly more freshness and purity. Smoked black fruits, cassis, tobacco leaf, and sappy flower notes all emerge from this thrillingly textured, balanced, focused 2012. It opens up with time in the glass, has ripe, sweet tannins, and it’s another one of those wines that offers pleasure today yet will cruise for decades. The final blend is the usual 54% Merlot and 46% Cabernet Franc. Readers should be happy to have bottles in their cellars.Jeb Dunnuck | 96+ JD(Château Cheval Blanc, St-Émilion, Bordeaux, France, Red) A beautifully balanced claret with a fragrant silky texture, fine backbone and length on the palate, promising a long life. Not a ‘big’ wine but a delicious one with class. Made in the spanking new cellar (inaugurated June 2011). (Drink between 2022-2040)Decanter | 96 DECMedium to deep garnet colored, the 2012 Cheval Blanc reveals lovely cassis, warm black cherries and redcurrant jelly notions with underlying hints of cedar chest, garrigue, Indian spices and damp soil. Medium to full-bodied, it possesses wonderful energy and freshness on the palate with a beautifully poised ethereal nature and long mineral-tinged finish. This elegantly crafted beauty should enter its drinking window in a couple of years and cellar gracefully for another 20+ years.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 95+ RPThis wine is gorgeous in all facets, offering a simultaneously loamy and creamy mouthfeel, seamless layers of red and black currant, cherry, raspberry and blackberry fruit, and a long, tobacco-fueled finish that features alluring hints of black tea and incense. The fruit and terroir shine in this broad, deep and defined style. Best from 2018 through 2030. 7,083 cases made.Wine Spectator | 95 WS(Château Cheval Blanc) The grand vin here this year is comprised of a blend of fifty-four percent merlot and forty-six percent cabernet franc and was produced from yields of thirty-one hectoliters per hectare. It is a great Cheval Blanc in the making, soaring from the glass in a classic blend of dark berries, mulberries, cigar smoke, espresso, lovely, cabernet franc-derived herb tones, menthol and a stylish base of nutty new oak. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, pure and seamless, with a youthful personality, superb focus and balance, a fair bit of tannin and outstanding length and grip on the nascently complex and very, very promising finish. There was a pretty wide variety of samples of this wine on display at the château on the damp morning in early April when the estate was playing open house to visiting journalists (I overheard Michel Bettane comment that “every single bottle is different”), and one had to hunt around a bit to find a bottle that was not totally shut down, but the samples that were open for inspection clearly indicated that this will be a great, great vintage of Cheval Blanc. (Drink between 2025-2075).John Gilman | 95+ JGWith a wonderful 45% blending of fragrant Cabernet Franc, this is a sumptuous, perfumed wine. It’s rich with a velvet texture that hides the dark tannins while bringing out the rich plum flavors. The dense texture is balanced by some fresh acidity and a fruity aftertaste. Drink this deceptively approachable wine from 2024.Wine Enthusiast | 95 WEA ripe and fleshy St.-Emilion with an excellent interplay of forest berry fruit, bitter chocolate and a whiff of cinnamon and allspice. Lovely, creamy richness on the mid-palate, but also a hint of warmth from alcohol. The supple tannins make for a very smooth finish, but it’s not so complex there. Drink or hold. Château Quintus vertical tasting. SP.James Suckling | 93 JS

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 DECThe 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+ AGFloral 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 JS

What a nose of blackberries, blackcurrants, minerals and graphite. Full-bodied and extremely fine and polished. Sexy and ethereal. Harmony. A little salty. Fabulous 2012. Pure silk. Better after 2020 but so wonderful now.James Suckling | 97 JSThis is a beautifully opulent wine, great Mouton in its richness and succulent fruits. It’s combines structure and obvious new-wood aging with hugely ripe black plum and currant flavors. While it is a pleasure to taste now, there is a great tannic structure in the background to give the sense of power and aging potential. Drink from 2024.Wine Enthusiast | 97 WETasted at the Mouton-Rothschild vertical in London, the 2012 Mouton-Rothschild clearly has the upper hand over the 2011, if not quite at the level of the 2009, 2010 and what I envisage will be the 2015. There is obviously greater fruit intensity here, as if the contrast has been dialed up a couple of notches. It is quite showy on the nose, preening in its infancy with pure black cherries, graphite and hints of cold slate-like scents, later that hint of seaweed I observed when tasted blind a few months earlier. The palate is beautifully balanced with great vim and vigor. This is a Mouton that will not be put down - vivacious, vivid and delineated with wonderful focus and crucially, impressive persistence on the finish. Do not underestimate this Mouton-Rothschild, because I can see an upswing as it matures in bottle. Tasted April 2016.Robert Parker Neal Martin | 96 RP-NMThe 2012 Mouton Rothschild comes across as quite dark and ripe in this vintage. One of the richest, most powerful 2012s readers will come across, the Mouton boasts striking aromatics and overall density. Mocha, chocolate, graphite, smoke, licorice and dark-fleshed fruits all meld together in the glass. I imagine the 2012 will need a good decade before it starts drinking well. Slightly roasted notes and copious new oak stick out today, but these wines have a way of coming together in bottle. Antonio Galloni | 95 AGWonderful expression of ’patrician’ black fruits, the expected exotic seduction of Mouton, a perfect blend of power and elegance. Drinking Window 2017 - 2035.Decanter | 95 DECThis is starting to mellow already, featuring dark fig and blackberry notes infused liberally with black tea and smoldering tobacco accents. Shows a light loamy echo through the finish, with a flash of menthol. Offers ample flesh throughout, with a slightly grainy edge to the tannins.--Non-blind Mouton-Rothschild vertical (March 2017). Best from 2020 through 2040.Wine Spectator | 94 WS(Château Mouton-Rothschild) The 2012 Château Mouton-Rothschild is a very good wine, being comprised of fully ninety percent cabernet sauvignon, eight percent merlot and two percent cabernet franc. It was raised in only seventy percent new oak this year- not a concession to the more elegant style of the 2012 vintage, but rather because the new chais includes new large wood fermentation tanks and these were also new oak this year. The wine is complex and classy on the nose, but just a touch overly slick for my pedestrian tastes, as it offers up a blend of cassis, dark berries, coffee bean, a dollop of licorice, dark soil tones and plenty of spicy, smoky new oak. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and pure, with really lovely raw materials very much in evidence. The core is deep, the focus and balance here are very fine indeed and there are plenty of ripe, chewy tannins adding grip and potential longevity on the finish, and yet, for some reason, I am left with the impression that the whole this year is a bit less than the sum of its parts. This is a very well-made wine, but it seems to me to be a bit overly sculpted to ever really reach greatness. I miss the more effortless impression of a wine like the 1985 Mouton- which the 2012 vintage might have been able to reproduce flawlessly! (Drink between 2025-2075).John Gilman | 92 JG

From an 11-acre vineyard just north of the Oakville corridor, the 2012 St. Eden shows gorgeous, cedary Christmas fruitcake notes, black cherry and blackcurrant fruit, spice box, earth, and almost first growth Pauillac-like cassis and lead pencil shavings. Deep, full-bodied, and fabulously concentrated, this stunner flirts with perfection. Slightly more evolved than the Quella or Melbury, this wine may be the most drinkable out of the gate of all the Bond offerings in 2012. It should continue to evolve for at least 30+ years.Robert Parker | 98 RPBeautiful fruit definition with blackberries, blueberries, chocolate and burnt orange character. Full body and round, fine powder texture plus dusty, velvety tannins. Long and gorgeous finish.James Suckling | 97 JSSensual and silky in the glass, the 2012 St. Eden comes across as a bit subdued and even light, with less concentration and fewer shades of dimension than most other vintages. Perhaps the 2012 is in a bit of a closed phase. We will see. At this stage, the 2012 is a bit compact and not as expressive as it has been in prior tastings.Vinous Media | 94 VMPure and graceful, with ripe, delicate red and dark berry flavors, light floral aromas and subtle oak nuances. An easy-drinking style, this is moderately tannic and should be ready to drink now or age short-term. To be released spring 2016. Drink now through 2026. 857 cases made.Wine Spectator | 93 WS