Fine Wine > Red > Still > $200+ > France

Cellar/Tasting Notes
"A strong effort in this vintage, the evolved, perfumed, purple-tinged 2007 Cheval Blanc offers complex aromas of menthol, cedarwood, mulberries, and black currants. Medium-bodied with beautiful fruit, sweet tannin, and a heady finish, this lovely wine should drink well for 10-15 years."

Cellar/Tasting Notes
"One of the monumental wines of the last century is the 1982 Pichon Lalande. Since bottling, it has flirted with perfection, and was a sprinter out of the gate, which gave rise to questions about how quickly it would begin its decline. However, at age 27, it retains all its glossy, rich, flamboyant..

Cellar/Tasting Notes
"*A Top 100 Cellar Selection of 2009* A severe, austere wine that doesn't show its richness easily. The tannins are tight and firm and they dominate. Underneath is ripe fruit, the balance with tannins giving a foursquare, solid character. The wine is complex, spice playing with the fruit, some..

Cellar/Tasting Notes
"*A Top 100 Cellar Selection of 2009* A severe, austere wine that doesn't show its richness easily. The tannins are tight and firm and they dominate. Underneath is ripe fruit, the balance with tannins giving a foursquare, solid character. The wine is complex, spice playing with the fruit, some..

Cellar/Tasting Notes
"The 2005 Chateauneuf du Pape Deus-Ex Machina is utter perfection in the glass – an awesome wine both comparable to and eclipsing the otherworldly 2003. Saturated purple to the rim, with an extraordinary nose of incense, fruitcake, blackberry and black cherry notes with some subtle roasted herbs,..

Cellar/Tasting Notes
This is still just a baby, offering currant and berries, with dried flowers that turn to subtle cedar and dried fruits. Structured and full-bodied, with ultrafine tannins and supersilky texture. This is so tight and powerful, but still backward. The palate builds and builds, with amazing tannins. A..

Cellar/Tasting Notes
"... among the first-growths, this wine is showing surprising forwardness and complexity in its aromatics. It possesses an exuberant, flamboyant bouquet of roasted coffee, cassis, smoky oak, and soy sauce. The impressive 1996 Mouton-Rothschild offers impressive aromas of black currants, framboise,..

Cellar/Tasting Notes
"It has a deep ruby color, excellent richness, an exotic, kinky, oriental spice component, and a rich, mineral-like, tightly knit, backward character, as well as admirable concentration and length."

Cellar/Tasting Notes
"Bottled in June, 1997, this profound Mouton is ... a blend of 72% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9% Cabernet Franc, and 19% Merlot. It reveals an opaque purple color, and reluctant aromas of cassis, truffles, coffee, licorice, and spice. In the mouth, the wine is "great stuff," with superb density, a..

Cellar/Tasting Notes
"Reminiscing over the 1989 and 1990 vintages, which I have followed from birth, there always seemed to be a dramatic difference in quality. Not that the 1990 was not a top wine, but in its infancy, I never thought it would come close to being as riveting and magnetic as its older sibling, the 1989...