Fine Wine > Bordeaux Blends > 95-99 Pts > France

Cellar/Tasting Notes
Can the 2009 Ducru Beaucaillou be better than the brilliant 2000 and extraordinary 2003 and 2005? Purchasers will have to decide for themselves, but this compelling effort is one of the all-time great Ducru Beaucaillous.

Cellar/Tasting Notes
"It displays enormous creme de cassis and boysenberry fruit with some cherries, spice box, and crushed rock in the background. It is intense, with loads of minerality, huge extraction, massive power, yet again, the vintage character seems to have given it a freshness and vibrancy despite the wine’s..

Cellar/Tasting Notes
RP: "Inky/black-colored with a classic Pauillac perfume of licorice, black currant liqueur, graphite, cedar, and spice box, it is full-bodied, with magnificent concentration, formidable tannins, and an Arnold Schwartzenegger-like structure (when he was 25 years younger). This backward, formidably..

Cellar/Tasting Notes
"Another celestial effort from Paul Pontallier and Corinne Mentzelopoulus, the 2005 Margaux, a blend of 85% Cabernet Sauvignon and 15% Merlot, boasts a dense opaque blue/purple color as well as an extraordinary bouquet of spring flowers, blueberries, black raspberries, creme de cassis, licorice,..

Cellar/Tasting Notes
"St.-Emilion's smallest vineyard produces so little wine (600 or so cases) that it is virtually impossible to find. This beautiful site (somewhat ghoulishly situated adjacent to St-Emilion's cemetery) produces what I have often called the 'Lafleur of St.-Emilion.' Classic notes of crushed rocks,..

Cellar/Tasting Notes
"This is a fabulous wine, with that tell-tale, dense, inky blue color that Angelus always seems to achieve. It displays an extraordinary nose of acacia flowers (or is it violets?) intermixed with blueberry liqueur, black raspberries, cassis, licorice, incense, and graphite. Full-bodied, viscous,..

Cellar/Tasting Notes
"A massive wine that is clearly of first-growth quality in this vintage, ... A broodingly dense, thick, unctuously textured, inky/plum/garnet/purple color offers up scents of beef blood, steak tartare, cassis, herbs, tobacco, and underbrush. One of the most concentrated wines of the vintage (as..

Cellar/Tasting Notes
"A tight but incredibly pronounced nose of smoke, earth minerals, lead pencil, black currants, cherries, and spice... full-bodied... rich multi-tiered, stunningly pure, symmetrical style with wonderful sweetness... it tastes like liquid nobility."

Cellar/Tasting Notes
JS: "Complex aromas of tobacco, cedar, berry and currants. Full-bodied, with a solid core of fruit and ripe tannins. Not as good as a barrel sample tasted earlier, but still outstanding for the vintage. Best after 2009."

Cellar/Tasting Notes
"Like many of its peers, the 1998 has filled out spectacularly. Now in the bottle, this opaque black/purple-colored offering has increased in stature, richness, and size. A blend of 86% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Merlot, and 2% Cabernet Franc (57% of the production was utilized), it is an extremely..