Ratings By Robert Parker 86 Tasting Notes An elegant, dark plum-colored effort, this 1997 reveals sweet cranberry, black cherry, licorice, and floral aromas. Medium-bodied, ripe, and round, with low acidity, it is a lovely, stylish, soft wine to consume over the next 7-8 years. By Robert Parker

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 »

Ratings By Robert Parker 93 Tasting Notes This estate has been producing impressive wines since the mid-1990s, and much of the credit goes to the talented proprietress, Sophie Schyler. The 2003 Kirwan is a beauty and gets my vote as the finest Kirwan made in the last quarter century. A beautiful bouquet of forest floor,… Read More »

Ratings By Robert Parker 88 Tasting Notes A relatively masculine-styled effort, with some noticeably hard and elevated tannin, this deep ruby/purple-colored 2002 exhibits notes of forest floor, black currant, vanilla, and incense. Firmly structured, tannic, and muscular, it requires 3-4 years of cellaring, and should keep for up to two decades.(Wine Advocate #158 Apr 2005)… Read More »