Bordeaux

This large estate has produced a blend of 53% Cabernet Sauvignon and 46% Merlot and the rest Petit Verdot offering up notes of roasted herbs and licorice, red and black currants. Medium-bodied, relatively lush and fruity in style

This large estate has produced a blend of 53% Cabernet Sauvignon and 46% Merlot and the rest Petit Verdot offering up notes of roasted herbs and licorice, red and black currants. Medium-bodied, relatively lush and fruity in style

This shows wonderful finesse. Brick red in color, with a garnet edge. Lovely perfumed aromas of blackberry and chocolate, with a hint of raisin. Medium-bodied, with velvety tannins and a long, sweet fruit finish.

Full of intense, tight and spirited black fruits, replete with this château’s signature richness of structure, which seems to ooze naturally through the tannins. There's a real sense of energy and zest, with liquorice, slate, spice, cassis and black cherry.

The nose is powerful and reveals ripe fruit notes associated with a few notes of tobacco and slight woody notes. The palate is relatively explosive, gourmand and offers small freshness, a good tension and juicy fruits. In the mouth it expresses notes of black fruits (black cherry, plum), red fruit (cherry, strawberry) associated with a touch of raspberry as well as slight woody notes and vanilla. The tannins are elegant, typical and melted. Good length.

The nose reveals aromas of cherry, blackcurrent and a soft wood note. On the palate, this red wine is powerful but smooth with a good balance between acidity and tannins.

The 2009 Langoa-Barton has a gorgeous bouquet with blackberry, bilberry, cedar and light tobacco aromas that blossom from the glass. This feels so composed and pure. The palate is medium-bodied with sappy black fruit, fine-grain tannin, beautifully judged acidity and a svelte, languorous finish that fans out with style. What a gorgeous and utterly seductive Saint-Julien.

The wine has a medium to deep color. An exotic nose, which is fruity with subtle oak nuances. Medium bodied, it is soft and supple with a fresh acidity. Well structured, the aromas are reflected on the palate where there is a good intensity of fruit and oak. Overall round, fresh and very approachable.

Abundant notes of spicy oak, elegant black currants and rich fruitiness along with hints of forest floor and damp earth are followed by a medium to full-bodied wine with sweet tannin and the classic Pessac-Leognan/Graves characteristics of tobacco leaf and smoke. Deep fruit, moderate tannin and a long finish give this wine enough potential to last for up to two decades or more.

A round and velvety second wine from Léoville Barton with currants, minerals and sandalwood. Medium to full body, ultra-fine tannins and a vivid finish.

Dark red in color. Clean and intense nose with fine and complex touches of liquorice, ripe fruits and a note of tobacco and cedar. Slow evolution on complex flavors of ripe fruit and wood, towards a tasty, soft, distinguished finish. Long persistence.

"Very pale color. Pungent, complex nose offers candied lemon peel, white peach, a note of honey and piquant mineral lift. Extremely powerful on the palate, with flavors of white peach and minerals and a chewy impression of extract. Boasts incredible volume and explosive fruit but today I am aware of the wine's high alcohol. Perhaps most impressive on the extraordinarily tactile finish: this struck me as one of the longest wines of any color or type that I tasted on my spring Bordeaux tour."
Stephen Tanzer 94/100

"Do not ignore this wonderful Cotes de Castillon! It has a beautiful, vibrant bouquet with very expressive Cabernet Franc. Wonderful delineation here with hints of crushed rose petals and vivacious red fruits. The palate is medium-bodied with very fine tannins. There is a real fleshiness here from the Merlot, but the Cabernet Franc completes the picture with the hints of tobacco on the finish. Superb."
Neil Martin 93/100

This wine, with 57% Cabernet Sauvignon, 37% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Franc and 1% Petit Verdot, is dense and spicy, with the very low-yielding Cabernet fully ripe and giving an earnest backbone to some high quality Merlot. This is perhaps not a traditional Montrose, but it is certainly a beguiling one.

A blend of 50% merlot and 50% cabernet sauvignon. Dense deep red colour with a nose that is full of smooth, rich red berries and black fruit - cherry, blueberry and blackberries. The palate is wonderful with a full body and weight to it, while incorporating gorgeous softened tannins after time in bottle. The style is clean with structure and a classic Médoc feel. There are very subtle chocolate and toasty toffee notes from the oak along with a gorgeous lengthy finish. A terrific high-quality claret at a great price.

Very attractive nose of toasted oak, coffee, pine needle, mint and black fruit, Really good structure with a long tannic finish.

"This is a major sleeper of the vintage and the finest Senejac I have tasted. The team from Pontet Canet, who have done such a phenomenal job at that estate, were in charge of making this Senejac, and the result, not surprisingly, is a sensational wine that consumers need to buy by the case. Dense purple, with notes of creme de cassis, incense, licorice and forest floor, this wine is delicious and full-bodied, with sweet tannins, low acidity, copious fruit and exceptional concentration. Everything is in balance, and the wine is capable of lasting 10 or more years."
-Robert Parker 93/100

Les Hauts de Smith offers ripe black plum and blackberry on the nose, hints of sous-bois in the background. The palate is very smooth and rounded on the entry. This is a wine whose texture, even at this early juncture, is utterly seductive, building nicely to a sensual finish spiced up with cloves and cracked black pepper. This will be delicious.

This is a soft, silky style of Saint-Emilion, made by Englishman Jonathan Maltus. It has good plummy fruit, plenty of weight mid-palate, and an easy-going, positive finish. It is a wine designed to drink young.

Big, bold and black in color, this wine is full of new wood perfumes, and it has a smooth, polished texture. Rich, fruity and firmly balanced, it has dark tannins that create a powerful structure.

A classical and elegant style. Developing aromas of soft black fruit and spices, this is a particularly seductive wine that sits perfectly in its drinking window now. Truly amazing.

A beautiful dark, intense colour with a brooding nose of ripe blackcurrant fruit and hints of cedar and liquorice. A full, robust palate with good fruit depth and a firm but fresh finish.

A blend of equal parts Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot it's aged for 12 months in 40% new oak following fermentation. The nose has quite a level of complexity with some savouriness among the ripe dark fruits while the palate is ripe and juicy with blackberry, coffee and a touch of dry spice. The soft, ripe tannins give it a delicious succulence.