Category Archives: Tasting Notes

Chateau Leoville-Barton 1997

Ratings By Robert Parker 86 Tasting Notes The elegant, spice box, cedary, oaky, red and black currant-scented and flavored 1997 Leoville Barton reveals surprising softness, medium body, low acidity, and ripe tannin. Drink it over the next decade. I would not be surprised to see it improve in the bottle, and possibly merit a higher… Read More »

Chateau Brane-Cantenac 2005

Ratings By Robert Parker 94 Tasting Notes This is the finest Brane-Cantenac I have tasted in over thirty years. Unusually perfumed and already approachable (atypical for most 2005 Medocs), it reveals a deep plum/purple color as well as a stunningly flamboyant bouquet of smoked herbs, licorice, camphor, black cherries, currants, and notions of plums and… Read More »

Chateau d’Issan 1998

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 »

Chateau Malescot St. Exupery 2006

Ratings By Robert Parker 91+ Tasting Notes While it is easy to lose sight of this wine, given the prodigious 2005 that was produced, this is another outstanding effort from an estate that has been doing everything right for some time. Notes of graphite, black currant liqueur, incense, and camphor make for a complex and… Read More »

Chateau Marquis d’Alesme Becker 2008

Ratings By Robert Parker (83-85) Tasting Notes This is an austere, medium-bodied effort with a nice color as well as sweet fruit, but not enough of it.(Wine Advocate #182 Apr 2009) By Robert Parker

Chateau Duhart-Milon 2002

Ratings By Robert Parker 89 Tasting Notes This is an excellent effort boasting notes of cedar, spice box, earth, and red and black currants in a medium-bodied, elegant style that exhibits the hand prints of Lafite Rothschild. A pure wine, it should age nicely for 10-15 years. Duhart is a chateau to watch as the… Read More »

Chateau Pontet-Canet 1996

Ratings By Robert Parker 92 Tasting Notes I was shocked by how backward the 1996 Pontet-Canet was on the three occasions I tasted it in January. This wine possesses superb potential, but it appears a decade’s worth of patience will be necessary. The color is a saturated dark purple. With coaxing, the wine offers aromas… Read More »