2009 Wine between $50 and $75

Creamy vanilla-tinged oak cloaks dried currant and berry fruit with notes ofgraphite and crushed rock, firming nicely on the finish. A true to form Cakebread Cabernet. Drink now through 2024.

This vineyard bottling is very vintage driven. The cool 2009 harvest has made it ripe and tart in cherry pie flavors, but also rather tannic. It's aloof, revealing little of its soul, beyond the primary fruit and oak. Needs time in the cellar. Could really be interesting over the next decade.

When we tasted the 2009 Langoa Barton with Lilian Barton at her office in St. Julien, we were expecting a well-made, delicious wine, but we couldn't have been more impressed! A blend of 54% Cabernet Sauvignon, 34% Merlot and 12% Cabernet Franc, it was deep purple in the glass with aromas of blueberries, blackberries and a hint of vanilla and pepper. Although it had one of the highest tannin levels in the history of the estate, they were smooth and well-integrated already. It is one of the best Langoa's we've ever tasted from barrel.

A blend of 80% Sauvignon and 20% Semillon that hit 14% natural alcohol, this is serious wine boasting notes of lemon and lime marmalade intermixed with honeysuckle, a whiff of freshly cut grass and a waxy, melony character. Aromatically complex, this relatively big Malartic Lagraviere should drink well for up to 20 or more years. A great wine!