Pauillac

A high proportion of Cabernet is immediately evident. Rich with lots of volume. Sweet blackberry and bramble, vigourous and weighty. Really good. Proper wine. Tannins present but not over-extract...(read more)

65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc, 1% Petit Verdot - exactly the same blend as the previous three vintages. Deep but not excessively dark colour, round, 'toffeed', gentle. The...(read more)

Huge glossy purple-edged black. Deep blackberry fruit perfectly balanced between fruit and firmness. Not the viscosity of Las Cases but a firmer, brighter definition. Stays sweet-tasting throughout. A bit of t...(read more)

Very rich, very solidly constructed, masses of rounded tannins. Black fruit, pencil box and pencil lead, mineral, velvety. Iron fist in velvet glove. Spiced cassis. Extremely impressive and very...(read more)

Tasted at the chateau, this is a far superior bottle than the last example. It has a potent earthy, almost Pomerol-like bouquet with cooked meats, white fennel, smoke, hickory and sage. The palat...(read more)

At last shedding its tannins and revealing fabulously rich fruit and great elegance. A wonderful Pauillac.

A superb Pichon Lalande, all in finesse, super-fine tannins, fresh and liquid whilst having no lack of volume, and the flavour builds nicely in the mouth. Rich but not remotely solid, it is very...(read more)

Rich and dense, but not the dense concentration of Pontet Canet, for example. Velvety and pure, very harmonious on the palate. Power builds and the finish comes through with plums and black cherr...(read more)

Pichon Baron did have some problems with drought. The area known as St. Anne, opposite Haut Batailley on the plateau, which usually goes to make Tourelles, suffered a block in maturity. They have...(read more)

Beautifully written up by Parker the 1996 Pichon Baron has evolved brilliantly. Now very much drinking - this is proper, polished Pauillac from a great vintage. Lots of soft, rich fruit and spicy...(read more)

An utterly profound Lynch-Bages, this wine continues to remind me of a hypothetical blend of the 1990 and 1989. Interestingly, when I asked Jean-Michel Cazes to rank his top four vintages of Lync...(read more)

75% Cabernet, 15% Merlot, 5% Petit Verdot. The weakness of the Merlot has resulted in a blend with more Cabernet than usual. and it is very assertive Cabernet, so this is a bit of an oddity, very...(read more)