| Score: |
98+ ST.
"(95% Merlot with 5% Cabernet franc): Good medium ruby. High-pitched aromas of blackberry, blueberry, minerals and licorice. Wonderfully intense but youthfully imploded on the palate, offering electric flavors of black fruits, cocoa powder, bitter chocolate and minerals. Utterly seamless considering that it's so backward today. Finishes with noble tannins, great class and energy and endless lingering perfume. This gained steadily in complexity during the 45 minutes or so I was able to follow it, but its steely structure suggests it will evolve gracefully for two or three decades. It's perhaps the single greatest merlot-based wine I have ever tasted from California. (Winemaker Denis Malbec, who literally grew up at Chateau Latour, also makes the great merlot-based Rive Droite bottling at Blankiet, which means that he is responsible for California's two greatest merlots, in the opinion of this taster.)" Vinous, May 2013 |