Ratings By Robert Parker 87 Tasting Notes Licorice, black fruit, herb, earth, and wood aromas emerge from this moderately perfumed, medium-bodied Margaux. The wine displays fruit and ripeness as well as some tannin. It is a good effort from this under performer, who appears to be getting its act together. Drink it over the next… Read More »
Ratings By Robert Parker 87 Tasting Notes The dark-colored 2007 Langoa Barton may be too angular, austere, and excessively extracted. This masculine, hard wine may or may not settle down, but it is not a style of wine that??s conducive to the lightness and charm of a vintage such as 2007. Time will tell. Forget… Read More »
Ratings By Robert Parker 90 Tasting Notes A virile, muscular effort for this estate, the 2001 Palmer (a blend of 51% Cabernet Sauvignon, 44% Merlot, and 5% Petit Verdot) exhibits a saturated purple color to the rim. Although closed and backward, it is surprisingly powerful, layered, and formidably endowed, revealing hints of charcoal, black fruits,… Read More »
Ratings By Robert Parker 87 Tasting Notes If it were not for the 1996, the 1995 would be the best Ferriere I have ever tasted. The wine exhibits an impressively saturated ruby/purple color, and an attractive nose of sweet toasty oak, licorice, and jammy black fruits. In the mouth, the attack begins well, with good… Read More »
Ratings By Robert Parker 95 Tasting Notes Proprietor Patrick Maroteaux, president of Unions des Grands Crus Classes, is pulling out all the stops to make Branaire as alluring as several of the Leovilles and Ducru Beaucaillou. 2003 and 2004 may be the finest back-to-back vintages ever produced at Branaire. Even better than the 1982, the… Read More »
Ratings by Robert Parker 89 Tasting Notes Proprietor Xavier Borie has turned out a beautiful silky-textured Pauillac revealing classic creme de cassis, licorice, and tar-like characteristics interwoven with cedar and roasted herb notes. Medium-bodied and elegant, it is more St.-Julien-like in personality than Pauillac. But who??s complaining? This 2005 will provide lovely drinking in its… Read More »
Ratings By Robert Parker 88 Tasting Notes This is one of the finest Dauzacs to date. The 1999’s opaque purple color is followed by aromas and flavors of black currant and blueberry fruit, Asian spices, minerals, smoke, and toasty new oak. It is powerful and extracted, with low acidity. It will be at its best… Read More »
Ratings By Robert Parker 78 Tasting Notes More disappointing from bottle than it was from cask, the 2001 Croizet-Bages reveals notes of toasty new oak, but little fruit. The herbaceous aromatics are followed by a clipped, lean, austere mid-palate, and a dry, angular finish. After the successful 2000, I had hoped this chateau was going… Read More »