Fine Wine > Still > 95-99 Pts

Cellar/Tasting Notes
"The 2009 Passionnement (Cabernet Sauvignon) is a beautifully focused, layered wine. Sweet roses, flowers of all sorts, dark red berries, licorice and new leather flow gracefully from this supple, silky wine. The Passionnement possesses lovely textural depth and plenty of volume in a racy, sleek..

Cellar/Tasting Notes
"... the 2007 Chateauneuf du Pape Vieilles Vignes, ratchets up the level of succulence, juiciness, and opulence. It is a fabulous, compelling effort of multiple dimensions. Classic aromas and flavors of licorice, kirsch liqueur, balsam wood, and lavender are found in this enormously full-bodied..

Cellar/Tasting Notes
"Stephan von Neipperg's tiny jewel of a vineyard 12 acres produces the ultimate garage wine from 50-year old vines. A candidate for the wine of the vintage, this blend of 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Franc is a big, concentrated effort of extraordinary intensity and richness. A sensational bouquet..

Cellar/Tasting Notes
"This tiny, 5-acre vineyard with nearly 50-year old vines produces only 4,000 bottles from a blend of 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc. The broodingly tannic, backward 2006 is remarkably concentrated, pure, and deep. It is an amazing tour de force in winemaking, but like nearly all the Perse..

Cellar/Tasting Notes
The 1989 La Chapelle is phenomenal. The opaque black/ruby color and the huge bouquet of coffee, hickory wood, jammy cassis, minerals, and spices are the stuff of legends. In the mouth the wine is massive, with layer upon layer of unctuous, highly extracted, and superripe fruit. The finish offers an..

Cellar/Tasting Notes
"The 2008 Claret (100% Cabernet Sauvignon) has that ethereal nose of spring flowers, boysenberry, blueberry, black currant, and spice. Following that seductive aromatic display, Foley’s brilliance is again exhibited in the mouthfeel of this seamless wine, which has full-bodied flavors, no hard..

Cellar/Tasting Notes
“A glorious perfume…exceptionally powerful, pure, and dense with a layered mid-palate that builds like a skyscraper…a big, backstrapping effort that should enjoy an unusually long life.”

Cellar/Tasting Notes
“Saturates every corner of the palate with layers after layers of rich dark fruit, mocha, spices and licorice. This is a stunning To Kalon endowed with tons of site-specific character and nuance..." — Antonio Gallioni

Cellar/Tasting Notes
"The 2006 Pichon Lalande ... represents a return to the velvety-textured, rich, sexy style most readers would associate with Pichon Lalande. This blend of 64% Cabernet Sauvignon and 36% Merlot (no Petit Verdot was included in the final blend) exhibits a dense purple color as well as abundant aromas..

Cellar/Tasting Notes
"There is also enough oak influence to notice though not enough to materially detract from the high-toned and overtly spicy red currant, cherry and plum suffused nose. There is a lovely minerality to the supple, forward and refined middle weight plus flavors that possess a wonderfully refined mouth..