Wines with Age

wines

Flower and berry character, with hints of clove and black pepper. Full-bodied and very rich, with decadent flavors. Oozes with ripe fruit. Goes on and on. Fabulous.--’95/’96 Bordeaux retrospective. Best after 2008.Wine Spectator | 96 WSAusone’s extraordinary minerality is present in the 1995, yet there are more aromatics, a richer, more multidimensional palate impression, and a fuller texture - all with the terroir brilliantly expressed. The wine boasts a dense ruby/purple color and an emerging but tightly-knit nose of spring flowers, minerals, earth, and black fruits. Rich, with an opulent texture and surprising sexiness for a young vintage of Ausone, the medium-bodied 1995 displays exquisite balance between its acid, tannin, alcohol, and fruit. Although it is not yet seamless, all the elements are present for an extraordinary evolution in the bottle. This wine will age at a glacial pace for 30-40 years. Anticipated maturity: 2010-2045. Last tasted, 3/01.Robert Parker | 93 RPDeep violet-tinged ruby. Lively cassis, black cherry, tobacco and smoky oak aromas. Lush and dense, though a bit shocked by the bottling. Combines the penetrating, juicy quality and class of previous vintages of this wine with the more opulent texture and suaver tannins craved by so many of today Bordeaux lovers. May well eventually merit a higher score, but will it surpass the ’96?Vinous Media | 92+ VM

This brilliant wine is one of the best new breed Tuscan reds I have tasted. The color is a sensational black/purple and the nose offers gorgeously intense aromas of black plums, cassis, licorice, and spicy new oak. In the mouth, there is extraordinary opulence and richness, enough acidity to provide grip, and plenty of tannin lurking behind the cascade of fruit. The explosive finish goes on and on. Approachable, even delicious now, this splendid wine promises to get even better over the next 4-6 years and possibly last through the first decade of the next century. Impressive!Robert Parker | 93 RPA solid wine, with wonderful structure for aging, but still closed and not giving much at this stage. Dark-ruby color, with smoke, berry and cherry aromas and flavors. Loads of velvety tannins, full body and a long finish. Great, soft texture. Wait until at least 1997.--Super Tuscan retrospective. — JSWine Spectator | 93 WSThe 1988 Ornellaia (magnum) shows a touch more complexity and delineation than the 1985 in its layers of dark fruit, herbs, licorice, minerals and spices, with a surprising level of freshness and firmness. It is a beautiful Ornellaia with several years of fine drinking ahead. The 1988 Ornellaia is 80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 16% Merlot and 4% Cabernet Franc that spent 11 months in French oak, 40% new.Vinous Media | 92 VM

No written review provided. | 91 WS

Medium red-ruby. Confectionary aromas of raspberry, cocoa powder, mocha and sexy oak; more evolved than either the '99 or '98, even considering its extra year of age. Fat, sweet and harmonious; offers lovely balance but just misses out on the density and depth of a great year. Finishes with firm but very suave tannins; this must be one of the longest '97s.Vinous Media | 91 VMUndoubtedly a success for the vintage, this immensely charming, dark ruby/purple-colored wine exhibits floral, black currant, and smoky, toasty oak aromas. There is admirable richness, excellent ripeness, not a great deal of density, or superb concentration, but plenty of finesse, suppleness, and character. It can be drunk young, or cellared for 12-15 years.Robert Parker | 90 RPAll in finesse, with berry, currant and light vanilla character. Medium- to full-bodied, with silky tannins and a fresh finish. Lovely, long finish. Gorgeous core of fruit in this wine. Drink now through 2004.Wine Spectator | 90 WS

This 15+ acre estate, situated on a south/southwest-facing slope, has been making sensational wines since 2000, when the management of the vineyard and winemaking were taken over by Nicolas Thienpont and Stephane Derenoncourt. The 40-year-old, bio-dynamically farmed vineyard is planted with 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Franc. The 2003 possesses superb ripeness as well as a stony, mineral liqueur-like intensity, a reticent but promising perfume of black raspberries, sweet kirsch, and blacker fruits, a full-bodied, powerful, concentrated attack and mid-palate, and a blockbuster, long, powerful, moderately tannic finish. It is an infant in terms of development. No doubt this site’s clay and limestone soils were the perfect antidote for the summer’s torrid heat and drought. This superb effort should only be purchased by patient connoisseurs. Anticipated maturity: 2011-2025+Robert Parker | 93 RPPlenty of berry and cherry character with chocolate and vanilla. Medium-bodied, with soft and balanced tannins. Lovely balance. This is right next to Angélus and Beauséjour Duffau-Lagarosse. A small property with about 15 acres. Best after 2008. 1,625 cases made.Wine Spectator | 91 WS

The 1998 Pontet Canet was made at a time when the property practiced green harvesting that began in 1994 but is not done today. “The changes were in the mind at this stage,” commented Jean-Michel Comme wryly. Initially it felt a little muddled on the nose but it gains focus with time. Eventually it offers straightforward blackberry, briary and cedar scents. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannin, crisp acidity, plenty of cedar and mint-laced black fruit with a pleasant, quite lively and lightly spiced finish that lingers in the mouth. This is a commendable 1998 from the château before they really began to embrace biodynamics. Tasted at the château.Vinous Media | 90 VM

Surprisingly lively and fresh, this is still a seriously impressive wine. The high proportion of Semillon is now coming to dominate the Sauvignon, to give a wine that is finely shaped, full of creamy flavors of wood and some white peach. In 10 years, this will still be fresh, in 15 just mature.Wine Enthusiast | 96 WEComplex aromas of blackberries, tobacco and cedar follow through to a full-bodied palate, with ripe, velvety tannins and a long, caressing finish. Very beautiful. Best after 2009.Wine Spectator | 93 WSGood ruby-red. Redcurrant, plum, tobacco and flowers on the nose. Suave and light on its feet, with excellent integrated acidity framing and extending the flavors. Classy and classic wine, finishing with ripe, building tannins. This would be perfect with a cigar. Today Delmas and Masclet prefer this 2002 to the 2001 Haut-Brion, but for La Mission they give the edge to the 2001.Vinous Media | 92+ VM

(Château Le Pin, Pomerol, Red)

What you'd expect from such a legendary estate. Wonderful palate impression with silky, rich fruit. Plenty of blackberry and chocolate character, has a full body and medium finish. Needs time. Try after 1997.--The Bordeaux 50.Wine Spectator | 93 WS

This is a slight downgrade for this wine, but I suspect it will bounce back, as it clearly needs more time. It was more reserved than I thought it would be, as Le Pin tends to be one of the more extravagantly rich, flamboyant wines of Pomerol. The one time I tasted the 2000, it had a dense ruby/purple color, aggressive new oak, loads of coconut, vanilla, and spice box, enormous concentration and thickness, but this is an estate where I thought their subsequent year, 2001, was an even better wine. This wine displays some firm tannins in the finish and should be forgotten for another 5-6 years. So much for Le Pin not aging well. This one has at least 25 years left in it.Robert Parker | 96 RPDistinctive, with a flash of menthol giving way to a beam of lightly mulled raspberry fruit that carries on through the finish, easily holding sway over the hints of bramble, licorice snap and warm plum compote. Just a touch sedate in feel, perhaps, but if you were a wine with this kind of fruit to burn, wouldn’t you just kick back and let it groove too?—Blind 2000 Bordeaux retrospective (December 2015). Drink now through 2030. 500 cases made.Wine Spectator | 96 WSThe 2000 Le Pin is a vintage that I have not tasted for a decade or so. It has an exotic bouquet of vivacious red fruit, kirsch, black truffle, rose petals and orange blossoms. It just feels a little smudged against the 2001. The medium-bodied palate delivers sweet, ripe tannins, fleshy, orange-peel-infused red fruit, a little balsamic and touches of hoisin. The vibrant finish is reminiscent of the legendary 1982 or perhaps the 1989.Vinous Media | 93 VM

The 1999 Cos d’Estournel has a well-defined bouquet that takes a few swirls of the glass to get going. It is not complex or vigorous, yet nicely detailed. Melted tar and cigar humidor infuse the black fruit, becoming earthier with aeration. The palate is medium-bodied with a fine line of acidity. This feels quite masculine and structured, and very fresh and linear. A light fish oil note tinctures the tarry black fruit toward the finish. This exudes Saint-Estèphe character and is drinking perfectly now. Tasted from an ex-château bottle at the estate.Vinous Media | 92 VM

The velvety texture is clear even on the nose, with truffle and chocolate shavings giving a mouthwatering opener. This is a lighter-framed Petrus than the 1998 but still one that pulses with intensity and complexity of expression. The tannins are finely boned, gently laid out to cushion the olive paste, plum and blackberry fruit, and it shows no sign of slowing down at 21 years old. Jean-Claude Berrouet remembers that the vintage needed more vigilance in the cellar than the 1998, with the need to resist over-extraction that would artificially fill in any gaps, and the result is a balanced and lyrical wine. A vintage that shows the virtue of clay, and the virtue of Pomerol, in that its wines ripened earlier and were therefore not affected when the weather turned rainy later in September (harvest here was September 15, 16, 17 after what had been an early-ripening year overall). 50% new oak. Drinking Window 2020 - 2030.Decanter | 95 DECThis wine is turning out much in the style of such wonderful Petrus vintages as 1967 and 1971. Although not as outstanding as either the 1998 or 2000, it displays beautiful intensity and finesse in a more evolved style than one normally expects from this estate. The wine has a dense, nearly opaque ruby/purple color, sweet black cherry, mulberry, truffle-infused fruit, full body, low acidity, admirable purity, and sweet tannin. It should be ready to drink in 5-6 years, and will last for two decades. Anticipated maturity: 2007-2030. Only 2,400 cases were produced.Robert Parker | 94 RPThe 1999 Petrus was made by Jean-Claude Berrouet (his son Olivier was training at Haut-Brion at the time) and harvest was in early September. This has the best aromatics of any Pomerol that I have tasted alongside Lafleur, featuring lovely red berry fruit and black truffle, almost Burgundian in style and beautifully defined. The palate is medium-bodied with plenty of freshness and definition, touches of black truffle and sage infusing the red fruit. Perhaps the limitations of the growing season impinge upon the finish, which feels a little conservative in style, but this still ranks among the better Pomerols of the vintage. “Fine and delicate,” Oliver Berrouet remarked during the tasting, and I concur. Tasted from an ex-château bottle at the estate.Vinous Media | 92 VMA pretty, fruity red with beautiful tobacco, berry and cedar. Medium-bodied, with good soft tannins and a pretty finish.--Pétrus non-blind vertical. Drink now. 2,080 cases made.Wine Spectator | 90 WS

2001 was a vintage that very much suited Pomerol, and the Merlot here takes precedence over the Cabernet Franc, expanding sideways, juicy and smiling. This is a show stopper of a wine, from the very first moment that you pour it. Concentrated and powerful, it gathers pace through the palate with flavours of truffle, cinnamon, toasted almonds, rich plum and damson. The texture is of cashmere and silk, the fruit palate varied and balanced. You can open it now, but there’s no rush, even at close to 18 years on. Drinking Window 2018 - 2035.Decanter | 100 DECThis wine possess great beauty, it is almost Burgundian with its soft tannins and sweet fruit. Pure class and finesse in this, it is round and thick, long and very yummy. No need to wait on this, pull the cork. This vintage had more Merlot than the 2000 and you can tell. A subtle wine.James Suckling | 96 JSNo written review provided. | 95 W&SThe 2001 Vieux Château Certan is one of Alexandre Thienpont’s favorite vintages, and it is easy to see why. It has a classy bouquet, brambly red fruit, quite luscious in style and aromatics that are determined to seduce. The palate is medium-bodied with a firm backbone that will guarantee this as a long-term Pomerol. There is wonderful tension from start to finish, less sinewy than the 2000, more agile and one could say, "athletic". It is a wonderful wine that is now nipping at the heels of the previous vintage. Tasted from a bottle taken from my own cellar bought on release.Vinous Media | 94 VMA brilliant effort from Alexandre Thienpont, this blend of 70% Merlot and 30% Cabernet Franc is a deep purple-colored, fleshy, layered effort offering a sweet nose of creosote, incense, Christmas spices, plenty of red and black fruits, and hints of licorice as well as new oak. Rich, medium to full-bodied, with tremendous purity in addition to nobility, give it two more years of cellaring and drink it over the next following 15-18 years.Robert Parker | 93 RPThis is grippy and earthy at first, with tobacco, warm stone, mulled currant and fig fruit notes. Settles down with time in the glass, showing more polish and a pretty violet detail through the finish.—Blind ’01/’03/’05 Bordeaux retrospective (December 2017). Drink now through 2027. 4,000 cases made.Wine Spectator | 92 WS

Good full ruby-red. Knockout, complex nose offers vibrant aromas of raspberry, sour red cherry, strawberry, licorice and violet, complicated by white pepper and rose. Then moderately dense and fresh in the mouth, with delicately spicy notes of redcurrant, strawberry, licorice, coffee and minerals. This rather elegantly styled wine finishes bright and fresh, with firm, highly polished tannins. This midweight Cheval Blanc lacks the density and concentration of the better vintages, but it has an amazingly pure nose of cabernet franc (I'd score this 95 or more for its aromas) that is a joy to inhale. For those with deep pockets, it's also a fantastic food wine, and a simply amazing buy, since it will cost much less than many other more sought-after Cheval Blanc vintages.Vinous Media | 91 VM