The 2005 Troplong Mondot is a blend of 90% Merlot and the rest Cabernet Franc. It was emotional tasting this wine, thinking of the late Christine Valette, who made this compelling wine while battling with considerable courage against an insidious disease....
With an unbelievable nose of licorice, tapenade, black cherry and blackcurrant liqueur, as well as full body, super-sweet tannin, and astonishing richness and length, this prodigious effort in 2005 announced the resurrection of this great terroir on the s...
The 2021 Lytton Springs is fabulous. Bright and vibrant to its core, the 2021 impresses with its poise. Readers will find a Lytton Springs that is very much in reserve, as opposed to the rest of the 2021s in this report, all of which are more approachable...
Far more accessible is the 2009 Faugeres. Again, cropped at a low 18 hectoliters per hectare, but a different blend of 85% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon, this wine boasts 14.5% natural alcohol, and both Stefan von Neipperg and Miche...
The 1989 Léoville Poyferré is a vintage that I have not tasted for a number of years. It has a very attractive bouquet of red fruit mixed with peppercorns, pine, cedar and orange peel, showing signs of youth at 30 years of age. The palate is medium-bod...
The plushest, most ostentatious and dramatic of all the Leovilles in 2000, this wine is already sumptuous, displaying some nuances in its huge nose of vanilla bean, black chocolate, jammy black cherries, cassis, and graphite in a flamboyant style. Opulent...
Black licorice and currants on the nose. Very fragrant. Full-bodied, with chewy tannins and a long finish. Still needs time to come together.--'95/'96 Bordeaux retrospective. Best after 2008.