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The 2009 Clarets (Jul 2012)

(a blend of 70% merlot, 20% cabernet franc and 10% cabernet sauvignon): Deep saturated ruby, one of the darkest wines of the vintage. Vibrant nose offers scents of blackberry, blueberry, minerals, dark chocolate, violet and garrigue. Lush, superconcentrated and voluminous, with plenty of energy to give shape to the mouthfilling dark fruit, dark chocolate, cedar…

Bordeaux 2009: The Best Ever? (May 2010)

(a blend of 70% merlot, 20% cabernet franc and 10% cabernet sauvignon; 28 hectoliters per hectare; 14.5% alcohol; 80% new oak) Bright saturated ruby with hints of inky highlights. Black fruits, licorice, coffee and oaky torrefaction on the nose, with menthol in the background. Quite tightly wound in the early going, with brisk acids framing…

A Test Of Greatness: 2009 Bordeaux Ten Years On (March 2019)

The 2009 Pavie has a very sweet bouquet with candied black cherries, camphor, liquorice and orange blossom aromas, quite attractive in many ways although just a little static compared directly with the 2009 Angélus. The delineation is impressive for the vintage. The palate is full-bodied and decadent as you would expect, although there is balance…

2016 Bordeaux…It’s All In The Bottle (Jan 2019)

The 2016 Malescot Saint Exupéry is fabulous. Powerful and explosive on the palate, the 2016 offers serious intensity, but it also appears to be holding back quite a bit of its potential. Moreover, what impresses me most is that in 2016, intensity is delivered more with finesse than with the brutish power that is such…

The DBs: Bordeaux 2016 In Bottle (Jan 2019)

The 2016 Malescot Saint Exupéry has a well-defined bouquet of ample red currant, cranberry and strawberry fruit laced with rose petal and hints of graphite. There is something almost Saint Julien–like about the aromatics. The palate is medium-bodied with supple, graphite-infused black fruit, and quite linear and poised, but it conveys a genuine sense of…

Champagne: The Season’s New Releases (Dec 2016)

The 1989 Krug Collection is a wine with an uneven track record. This bottle is one of the finer examples I have had. Fully mature flavors of hazelnut, tobacco, smoke, licorice and dried fruits all make an appearance, while some of the more mushroomy elements found in some bottles are, thankfully, missing. At its best,…