Ratings By Robert Parker 89 Tasting Notes This 1999 is a gorgeously elegant style of wine, with notes of violets, black currants, and sweet oak. This delicate yet authoritatively-flavored wine is, as I said last year, the quintessential example of the finesse and nuance expected of a classified-growth Margaux. It is pure, graceful, with delicacy… Read More »
Ratings By Robert Parker 87 Tasting Notes Readers need to pay increasing attention to the efforts of the young Emmanuel Cruse, who has racheted up the level of d’Issan’s quality.The dark ruby-colored, elegant, finesse-filled 1998 d’Issan reveals a floral, licorice, herb, and blackberry/currant-scented bouquet. Medium-bodied, with sweet tannin, a soft entry on the palate, fine… Read More »
Ratings By Robert Parker 88 Tasting Notes This property continues to reassert itself, with a renewed commitment to quality. The 1996 d’Issan has turned out beautifully in bottle. It exhibits a dark ruby/purple color as well as an elegant, floral, blackberry, and smoky-scented nose. The wine is medium-bodied and complex in the mouth, with subtle… Read More »
Ratings By Robert Parker 87 Tasting Notes An excellent d’Issan, with more noticeable tannin than the 1996, the 1995 possesses a deep ruby color, an excellent spicy, weedy, licorice, and black currant-scented nose, sweet fruit on the attack, and very good purity, ripeness, and overall balance. The wine is well-made and more backward than the… Read More »
Ratings By Robert Parker 90 Tasting Notes Made in the tell-tale Kirwan style (medium to full-bodied, lots of muscle, concentration, and thickness), the dense purple-colored 2008 offers sweet blackberry and cassis fruit along with a layered mouthfeel. A sleeper of the vintage, this 2008 remains backward and thus will benefit from 2-3 years of cellaring.… Read More »
Ratings By Robert Parker 87+ Tasting Notes This big, robust, exuberant offering is excessively extracted with relatively hard, astringent tannins. Nevertheless, there is lots of flavor, and the wine is full, rich, and built for longer term cellaring than most 2007s. It requires 3-4 years for everything to come into balance … hopefully.(Wine Advocate #188… Read More »
Ratings By Robert Parker 88 Tasting Notes This wine seemed more impressive from cask than it is from bottle, as the oak seems to overwhelm much of its personality, and the wine??s austere, astringent tannins are cause for concern. It is concentrated and dark ruby purple, but the oak and tannin excesses seem to suggest… Read More »
Ratings By Robert Parker 92+ Tasting Notes I remember tasting a number of Kirwans from the 19th century that had held up surprisingly well for over 100 years. While the 2005 will probably not last that long, it may be one of the finest wines this estate has made in the last fifty years. This… Read More »
Ratings By Robert Parker 90 Tasting Notes Aromas of cedar, spice box, incense, burning embers, black currants, and new wood jump from the glass of this full-bodied, structured effort. Behaving more like a Pauillac than a Margaux, it is a long, concentrated, powerful wine meant for long aging. Anticipated maturity: 2012-2025.(Wine Advocate #171 Jun 2007)… Read More »