Fine Wine > Red > 92-95 Pts > France

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
"... loads of roasted Provencal herbs, sweet black cherry, black currants and black raspberries, beautiful purity, full-bodied texture and a long finish."

Cellar/Tasting Notes
"… stunning purity and precision… deep, pure and very stony in personality, with a great core of fruit, utterly refined, but serious tannins, bright acids and superb focus and grip on the very long, soil-driven finish."

Cellar/Tasting Notes
"A sleeper of the vintage, this impressive St. Emilion, made by Dominique Hebrard, exhibits a pure nose of red and black fruits intertwined with spice box, dried herbs, and subtle wood. Medium-bodied, beautifully concentrated, and pure with good acidity as well as ripe tannin, it should drink well..

Cellar/Tasting Notes
"Red raspberry, fresh cherry, and smoked meat (approaching pork rinds) greet the nose, with notes of ceiling wax and rose hip emerging as the wine takes on air. On the palate, this displays the juicy fresh fruit elements and diversity of mineral suggestions one has come to expect from this estate;..

Cellar/Tasting Notes
Tightly wound, with a snappy edge to the pomegranate, red currant and red licorice flavors that have a taut chalky spine cutting through the middle. There's lots of briary, spice-filled grip on the finish.

Cellar/Tasting Notes
"Perhaps the greatest Chateauneuf du Pape Guigal has ever made (he agreed, by the way) is the voluptuously textured, opulent, nearly over the top 2007 Chateauneuf du Pape. Dense ruby/purple, with an exquisite nose of kirsch, blackberry, black raspberry, charcoal, licorice, and garrigue, this blend..

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
"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..

Cellar/Tasting Notes
"... One of the sleeper cuvees of the entire cellar, ground pepper intermixed with tapenade, creme de cassis, and smoky barbecue notes are followed by a wine with great fruit, good acidity, and striking minerality. It should drink well for a decade or more."