Varietal: Bordeaux Blend | Location: France - Bordeaux - St.-Emilion
WA 91
This is one of the finest wines I have tasted from this highly regarded terroir that has rarely been exploited to its maximum potential. Loads of chalk dust intertwined with sweet kirsch, black currants, licorice and camphor jump from the glass of this full-bodied wine, which has terrific fruit intensity, lots of glycerin, a lavish richness and a long, heady finish with light to moderate tannin. Give it 1-2 more years of bottle and drink it over the following 15.
Varietal: Bordeaux Blend | Location: France - Bordeaux - St.-Emilion
Now 10 years old, the 2002 Château Canon has reached an exquisite maturity. Silky smooth and vibrant in the mouth, the graceful fruit quite literally glides over the palate, displaying notes of plums, raspberries berries, crème de cassis, with notes of freshplowed new earth and vanilla rising towards the finish. Drinking beautifully now, this wine has reached the plateau of maturity, where it will easily hold for an additional 7 to 10 years. --Ben Giliberti, CW (June 2012)
Varietal: Bordeaux Blend | Location: France - Bordeaux - St.-Emilion
The perfect bookend to the fully mature 2002 Château Canon, the 2008 is a great wine in the making. Although 3 to 4 years away from full maturity, its impeccable balance makes it highly approachable now. This is a wine of enormous freshness, vibrancy, and class, a symphony composed in notes of raspberry, strawberries, cassis, and gentle notes of new oak. An exceptional value in a great wine. --Ben Giliberti, CW (June 2012)
Varietal: Bordeaux Blend | Location: France - Sauternes - Barsac
WS 96
ST 92
Loads of honey, maple syrup, dried apricot and spice. Full-bodied, medium-sweet, with a refined, spicy character. Pretty wine. Masses of botrytis. This is refined and long, a racy wine compared with the power and muscle of so many others. Beauty among the beasts. Best after 2012. 2,300 cases made.
Varietal: Bordeaux Blend | Location: France - Sauternes - Barsac
WS 93-96
WA 93-95
We really enjoyed this wine during our group tasting with Bill Blatch, even before he took us to Chateau Coutet later that day! Our meeting with Aline Baly, niece of owner Philippe Baly, only reconfirmed our wonderful feelings for this wine. Rich and lush with tropical fruit flavors galore, this is fantastic stuff!
Varietal: Bordeaux Blend | Location: France - Bordeaux - St.-Emilion
WA 95
Always one of Bordeaux's most endearing and charming wines, Croix de Labrie's wines generally offer an unctuous texture as well as enormous quantities of fruit. Made from 100% Merlot, the 2009 (about 300 cases produced) exhibits smoky black currant and raspberry liqueur notes intermixed with notions of licorice, graphite and wood smoke. Intense and unctuously textured with low acidity as well as sweet tannin, it is a hedonistic St.-Emilion fruit bomb to enjoy in its first 12-15 years of life. Sadly, it is virtually impossible to find this head-turning claret.
Varietal: Bordeaux Blend | Location: France - Sauternes
WA 94
Tasted single blind against its peers. The de Fargues 2007 is a tease, comparatively light on the nose at first, offering tempting scents of pressed white flowers, yellow plums and custard cremes. The palate is medium-bodied with a lovely viscous texture and fine acidity with hints of ginger and barley sugar towards the Barsac-like finish. Watch this blossom over the next decade. Tasted January 2011.
Varietal: Bordeaux Blend | Location: France - Sauternes
WA 97
"How absolutely refreshing the more acid nature of Fargues is in a vintage of such richness!
It acts as a veritable flavour enhancer, bringing out the strongly mineral character of the terroir and the forceful tea and cinnamon flavours of the botrytis, still noticeable even after 6 months of ?levage. This is a broadly constituted, strong flavoured, quite forceful Sauternes (Maybe it wasn't by chance that Comte Alexandre served the almost equally strong ?83 for lunch after our last tasting). It has clearly been built for the long haul, not only for the extra year of ?levage in barrel that they do here, but also for really long-term cellaring in bottle."
Bill Blatch
Varietal: Bordeaux Blend | Location: France - Bordeaux - Pomerol
WS 88
WA 90
ST 90
Lovely aromas of toasted oak, coffee and berry, with hints of raspberries. Full- to medium-bodied, with silky tannins and a long, luscious aftertaste. Slightly hollow center palate. Very fresh. Score range: 89-91
Varietal: Bordeaux Blend | Location: France - Bordeaux - Haut-Médoc
WS 96
WA 95
It is not unusual that the 2009 La Lagune is a spectacular effort given the fact that this estate has been making terrific wines over the last decade or more. It boasts a dense purple color as well as a beautiful perfume of blueberries, mulberries, cassis, white chocolate and subtle toasty oak. Notes of Chinese black tea, cedarwood and forest floor also make an appearance in the singular aromatic and flavor profiles. This sumptuous, full-bodied La Lagune possesses low acidity, abundant but ripe, sweet tannin and a long, 45-second finish. Give this beauty 5-7 years of bottle age and drink it over the following three decades. Read More
Varietal: Bordeaux Blend | Location: France - Bordeaux - St.-Julien
WS 92
WA 90
We tasted this at the chateau when we visited our good friend Lilian Barton-Sartorius. Elegant as always, this red has an aromatic nose, with flavors of cassis and blackberry fruit. The finish is firm and flavorful.
-- CW Wine Staff (April 2011)
Varietal: Bordeaux Blend | Location: France - Bordeaux - St.-Emilion
WA 93
The 2008 Larcis Ducasse (14.2% natural alcohol) is composed of 78% Merlot and 22% Cabernet Franc. Although closed at present and less prodigious than I predicted two years ago, it reveals an opaque purple color, plenty of sweet fruitcake, black currant, kirsch, forest floor and earthy characteristics, a full-bodied mouthfeel, sweet tannins and a long finish. It just does not appear to have the extra gear or two I tasted from barrel. Nevertheless, it is an outstanding wine and if it is priced fairly, it should be a definite purchase to enjoy over the next 20+ years.The 2008 Larcis Ducasse (14.2% natural alcohol) is composed of 78% Merlot and 22% Cabernet Franc. Although closed at present and less prodigious than I predicted two years ago, it reveals an opaque purple color, plenty of sweet fruitcake, black currant, kirsch, forest floor and earthy characteristics, a full-bodied mouthfeel, sweet tannins and a long finish. It just does not appear to have the extra gear or two I tasted from barrel. Nevertheless, it is an outstanding wine and if it is priced fairly, it should be a definite purchase to enjoy over the next 20+ years. -- Robert Parker
Varietal: Bordeaux Blend | Location: France - Bordeaux - St.-Julien
WS 94
WE 94
WA 91
ST 91
Not surprisingly, this wine is closed, masculine, but super-rich, with a denser, more complete and full-bodied style than its sibling, Langoa Barton. Some toasty vanillin is apparent in the black currant aromas intermixed with tobacco leaf, cedar, and spice box. The wine is full-bodied and has a boatload of tannin, not unusual for this estate, as well as an impressively pure, long finish. Everything is here, but this wine, made with uncompromising vision, is meant to be cellared for an exceptionally long period of time. Anticipated maturity: 2020-2035. 91+
Varietal: Bordeaux Blend | Location: France - Bordeaux - Pessac-Léognan
WS 90
WA 92
ST 91
A gorgeous effort from this tiny gem, the 2005 Les Carmes is their best wine since 1998 and 2000. Situated in a beautiful park behind Haut-Brion, this estate fashioned a deep ruby-colored 2005 boasting a brilliantly projected set of aromatics (kirsch, smoke, scorched earth, chocolate, leafy tobacco, and creosote). Its full body is somewhat unexpected given the aromatics? delicacy and nuance. Zesty acidity, sweet tannin, and a light but substantial, classic, traditional style are found in this offering, which represents a synthesis in style between a grand cru Cote de Beaune Burgundy (such as a Corton) and a great Graves. Anticipated maturity: 2013-2028.A gorgeous effort from this tiny gem, the 2005 Les Carmes is their best wine since 1998 and 2000. Situated in a beautiful park behind Haut-Brion, this estate fashioned a deep ruby-colored 2005 boasting a brilliantly projected set of aromatics (kirsch, smoke, scorched earth, chocolate, leafy tobacco, and creosote). Its full body is somewhat unexpected given the aromatics? delicacy and nuance. Zesty acidity, sweet tannin, and a light but substantial, classic, traditional style are found in this offering, which represents a synthesis in style between a grand cru Cote de Beaune Burgundy (such as a Corton) and a great Graves. Anticipated maturity: 2013-2028. -- Robert Parker