Wines with Age

wines

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

Made by Christophe as a tribute to Cote Rotie and coming from a blend of estate vineyards, the 2012 Syrah Wallah Wallah #4 Special spent 22 months in older puncheons and neutral smaller barrels before being bottled only in Magnum, of which there’s only 2,500 to go around. Hitting 13.6% natural alcohol, its deep ruby, semi-opaque color is followed by fabulous notes of rose petals, incense, violets, leather and sweet raspberry. These flow seamlessly to a full-bodied, supple and elegant Syrah that has no hard edges, integrated acidity and thrilling purity of fruit. Showing more and more tannin with time in the glass, it needs to be forgotten for 4-5 years and will have an easy two decades or more of longevity.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 96+ RP(13.6% alcohol; a "vineyard blend" bottled entirely in magnums): Healthy deep red. Aromas reminded me of the Côte Brune: raspberry, brown spices, mocha, black tea, every color of pepper. Wonderfully juicy and aromatic in the mouth, hinting at the fleshiness to come but still imploded in the early going. Strong dusty tannins are buffered by a powerful impression of extract, with the finish leaving behind notes of pepper and bacon. Baron compared this wine to the Jamet 2001 Côte-Rôtie and I can relate to that.Vinous Media | 95+ VMA unique blend of several of the winery’s vineyards, this wine brings brooding notes of smoked ham, raw meat, lilac, fire pit and peat, with a thread of minerality that runs throughout. The flavors are full but deft, showing abundant smoked meat and savory notes along with a finish that seems near endless. The balance is perfectly spot-on.Wine Enthusiast | 94 WEBright and jazzy, with a distinctively red cast to the color and a flavor profile of raspberry and rose petal. Powdery tannins and stony notes add to the complexity and harmony. Finishes with snap. Drink now through 2022. 257 cases made.Wine Spectator | 93 WS

More gamy, bloody and meaty than the Sur Echalas Vineyard Syrah, the 2012 Syrah The Tribe Vineyard is a full-bodied, elegant, concentrated and structured effort that gives up complex notes of savory dark fruits, beef blood, dried herbs, pepper and olives. It’s another incredible Syrah that needs short-term cellaring, but will have two decades of evolution.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 97 RPAn aromatic tour de force, this perfumed wine offers hypnotic notes of flowers, green olive, asparagus, sea breeze, mineral, peat, smoke flowers and an earthy funk, showing layers of complexity. The palate’s lithe frame belies the richness of the smoke, fire pit and grilled meat flavors that linger.Wine Enthusiast | 96 WESupple and expressive, with plum and currant flavors and stony overtones combining with hints of black olive and white pepper, adding depth to a distinctive profile on a medium-weight frame that punches above its weight. The deft balance plays against nubby tannins. Drink now through 2025. 463 cases made. Wine Spectator | 95 WS(14.1% alcohol; as with the Echalas Vineyard, the Tribe is cultivated with draft horses): Dark ruby. Aromas of black cherry, liquefied lamb tartare, paprika and black licorice, plus a note of medicinal reserve. Hugely sweet and concentrated but carrying a good bit of unabsorbed CO2 and showing less finesse today than the Cayuse Syrah bottlings from the 2012 vintage. Inky and primary, with strong underlying minerality. This is distinctly Brune while the Echalas Syrah is more Blonde. Finishes with substantial ripe tannins and a slight bitter edge that will require cellaring.Vinous Media | 93+ VM

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

(Dom Pérignon Brut Millésime (Épernay)) The 2012 Dom Pérignon is a brilliant wine in the making and seems likely to ultimately be judged one of the greatest vintages here in the last quarter century. According to Chef de Cave Vincent Chaperon, the wine is close to its ideal cépages of fifty percent each of chardonnay and pinot noir in 2012. The wine is quite a powerful vintage of Dom Pérignon, but with all of the customary elegance and structural chassis of the greatest vintages here and it remains a young wine, brimming with energy and superb depth. The bouquet wafts from the glass in a classic blend of lime, green apple, menthol, stony minerality, discreet botanical tones, gentle smokiness and a topnote of citrus peel. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, focused and complex, with a great core, superb mineral drive and grip, utterly refined mousse and a long, zesty and beautifully balanced finish. I love how the perfect ripeness of the 2012 vintage is seamlessly interwoven here with a superb girdle of acidity, great minerality and excellent purity, which will end up producing a legendary vintage of this wine. It is certainly approachable out of the blocks, but I would opt to tuck bottles away for at least eight to ten more years before starting to drink the 2012, as there is so much left here to still unfold. (Drink between 2029-2075)John Gilman | 98 JGWhat a magnificent bouquet for this Dom Pérignon 2012! Pastry, a hint of smoke and autolytic notes provide a compelling counterpart to eager yet elegant aromas of citrus (lime, tangerine and kumquat) joined by those of fresh fruit, herbs, liquorice, and menthol. There is even a refreshing note of ivy. The palate is tense, vibrant, and very fresh despite its impressive density, which meets its match with an unending finish. This 2012 incarnates the very essence of Dom Pérignon with such a concentrated degree of intensity, along with a capacity for ageing, that it is surely destined for a second life in a P2 edition. Drinking Window 2021 - 2050.Decanter | 98 DECWonderful elegance and balance to this Dom Pérignon with cooked apple, lemon and hints of white pepper and salt. It’s medium-bodied with really fine bubbles and balance. Spicy at the end. So wonderfully fresh, linear and long. Racy and elegant. A DP that invites to drink right now. All about finesse. Tension, too, with precise phenolics and bright acidity on the back palate. Subtle energy. Drinkable now, but will develop beautifully in the bottle.James Suckling | 97 JSThe 2012 Dom Pérignon is a dense, powerful wine. I am almost shocked by its vinous intensity and raw, unbridled power. The 2012 reminds me of the 2003, but with more finesse and not quite as pushed. Mildew, rain and frost were challenges and resulted in low yields, something that was further compounded by warm, dry weather that concentrated the fruit even more. Those qualities result in a dense Dom Pérignon endowed with real phenolic intensity. It is one of the most reticent young Doms I can remember tasting, I wouldn’t even think of opening a bottle for at least a few years. (Originally published in May 2021)Antonio Galloni | 97 AGThe 2012 Dom Pérignon is developing very nicely on cork, exhibiting a complex bouquet of pear, confit citrus fruits, honeycomb, buttered toast, iodine and nuts framed by a deft touch of youthful reduction. Full-bodied, rich and muscular, with a layered core of fruit and a pillowy mousse, it’s a vinous, vibrant Champagne that concludes with a saline finish.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 96 RPThis eloquent Champagne has an enticing waft of Mandarin orange on the nose that continues on the palate, which is layered with flavors of crushed blackberry and cassis, toast, chopped almond, graphite and oyster shell. A bright, finely-knit and harmonious version, with a lovely, raw silk-like mousse, and a lasting, expressive finish. Drink now through 2037.Wine Spectator | 96 WS

The 2012 Redigaffi jumps from the glass with explosive dark blue/blackish fruit. Rich, voluptuous and impeccably textured in the glass, the 2012 boasts massive depth and concentration, yet retains tons of freshness. Silky tannins round out a finish laced with melted road tar, herbs and leather. For such a big wine, the Redigaffi is remarkably complex and nuanced. The 2012 was aged in 100% new, thick-staved Darnajou barrels, which are seldom seen in Italy but widely used throughout Napa Valley and elsewhere. In some recent vintages I have slightly preferred the Syrah over the Redigaffi, but in 2012 the wines are both fabulous. Simply put, the 2012 Redigaffi is a stunner.Antonio Galloni | 96 AGTen years on the Redigaffi shows it’s vibrancy with lifted aromas of savoury spice, violet and fennel. The palate is still bright yet rich with exquisite fine tannin wrapped around a core of black fruit and savoury notes of thyme and anise along with hints of stone and deep espresso.Decanter | 96 DECThis has a seductively spicy nose of anise, pink peppercorns, wild berries, mulberries, mocha and violets. Full-bodied, rich and mouth-filling, yet with wonderful freshness. Chewy tannins. Vibrant finish. 100% merlot. Drink or hold.James Suckling | 96 JSThis vintage was entirely made by Luca D’Attoma. The Tua Rita 2012 Redigaffi is another milestone vintage that opens a new chapter in the timeline of this iconic winery in Suvereto on the Tuscan Coast. Luca’s footprint is evident as those more obvious oak tones suddenly disappear, giving space to black fruit, dried plum and syrupy blackcurrant. The wine shows an inky dark color nonetheless, and although its texture is generous and elegant, Redigaffi is suddenly void of those more obvious toasted oak influences. As a result, you gain a bigger window on some of the territorial aromas of Mediterranean herb and dried berry that we will find again in the vintages to follow.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 94 RPOne of Italy’s most acclaimed Merlots, this concentrated wine opens with scents of black currants, cedar, sage and espresso. The firmly structured but polished palate delivers dried black cherry, black pepper, coffee and licorice alongside a backbone of velvety tannins. Drink 2017–2022.Wine Enthusiast | 94 WE