BORDEAUX 2009

Cellar/Tasting Notes
"This 20+-acre vineyard, acquired by Gerard and Chantal Perse in 2001, is planted on a clay and limestone plateau. The 2009, a blend of 80% Merlot and the rest Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc, was cropped at 22 hectoliters per hectare, and possesses 14.2% alcohol. One of the top wines of the..

Cellar/Tasting Notes
A major sleeper of the vintage, this outstanding wine from the Aubert family in St.-Emilion has terrific plum, black cherry and cassis fruit as well as hints of earth and flowers. Supple-textured, opulent and savory, it is a heady, fleshy wine to drink over the next 3-5 years.

Cellar/Tasting Notes
"The basic Fontenil (95% Merlot and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon) has a deep bluish purple color ... full-bodied, layered, opulent wine, with lots of black raspberry fruit intermixed with some blueberries and crushed rock ... [One] of the best wines from Dany and Michel Rolland ... of Fontenil in Fronsac."

Cellar/Tasting Notes
"This excellent yet under-exploited terroir has produced its finest Tertre Daugay to date. The dark ruby/purple-colored 2009 offers loads of black raspberry, licorice, and black cherry aromas, medium to full body, silky tannins, a layered mouthfeel, and an expansive finish. It should provide..

Cellar/Tasting Notes
... the 2009 Les Gravieres is the best wine proprietor Denis Barraud has ever produced. Yields were not terribly low at 38 hectoliters per hectare, but this wine (made with 100% Merlot and finishing at just under 14% alcohol) has a spectacular, even flamboyant nose of pen ink, graphite, blackberry..

Cellar/Tasting Notes
This property has made so many fine efforts lately that it is difficult to say the 2009 is better than their 2005. However, the 2009 is a charming, sexy, dense ruby/purple-colored offering displaying lots of ripe Merlot fruit intermixed with hints of charcoal, black raspberries, black currants,..

Cellar/Tasting Notes
"... it displays plenty of kirsch, sweet cherries and red currants along with some sandy/loamy soil and roasted herb notes in a very sexy, up-front, lush, medium to full-bodied style. There’s not a hard edge to be found in this La Croix de Gay ..."

Cellar/Tasting Notes
"There's a deep well of dark fruit on the nose, with crushed blackberry and hints of dark chocolate. Subtle and rich. Full-bodied, with chewy tannins and a long, long finish. Tight and powerful. Excellent length to this. —J.S."

Cellar/Tasting Notes
"Juicy red currant with subtle smoked herbs, truffle, and spice box jump from the glass of this dense ruby/purple-colored wine. Possessing silky tannins, seductive, ripe fruit with an opulent texture and no hard edges, but serious tannin lurking behind the wealth of fruit and glycerin, this is..

Cellar/Tasting Notes
"A good value among over-achieving St.-Emilion estates is La Fleur Cardinale’s 2009. Composed of 70% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Franc and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon, some of the abrasive tannins noticeable early on in this big wine (14.5% alcohol) are now sweeter and better integrated. Made from tiny yields..