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Wine Type Vintage Name Variety Locale Date Posted Score Helpful Comments More...
Red

2010 Château Léoville Barton

St. Julien Red Bordeaux Blend more

4/20/2019 - englishman's claret wrote: 96 points

The 2010 Leoville Barton is a striking wine, brimming with rich cassis, cedar, lavender, mineral, and touches of anise and tobacco. This is a tremendously large-scaled wine on both the nose and palate, yet so well-mannered and not at all inelegant. This reaches 13.5% and it's good that it's no higher as it just avoids being hot and is well balanced by the robust body and high tannin. Long, pure fruit finish. Interestingly, the nose is very expressive for the first half hour of air and then closes in, remaining reasonably reticent for the following 12 hours. This is special stuff and, if you have a bunch, it's worth opening one now to understand the impressive raw material you'll be able to watch evolve over the next 60 years.

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Red

2015 Château Rauzan-Ségla

Margaux Red Bordeaux Blend more

2/10/2019 - englishman's claret wrote: NR

I like tasting young wines so I can decide for myself what to lay down in the cellar. There’s so much to love in the 2015 Rauzan Ségla - this is brimming with luscious plum and blueberry fruit on the nose, the tannins are very smooth on the palate, and a beautiful, intense violet note really pops in the mouth and on the finish. Accents of mineral and ganache add complexity. Nice oak treatment here. The only thing that troubles me - and it’s not an insubstantial issue - is that the alcohol is out of balance, coming off quite hot on the finish. A look at the label shows 14.5%! So much to love but with that ABV will I enjoy the wine when the fruit recedes a bit in 35 years but the alcohol doesn’t?

14 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comments (8)

Red

2018 Château Léoville Poyferré

St. Julien Red Bordeaux Blend more

2/25/2023 - englishman's claret wrote: 96 points

It’s important to give the 2018 Léoville Poyferré plenty of air if you’re tasting it now, because for the first 3 hours the fruit remains in its shell, leaving the nose to the devices of its oak and not showing a proper counterbalance to the alcohol. Yet at hours 3, 4, 5, and 16 the wine simply continues to unfurl and shows what it’s really made of - and what the future holds. Léoville Poyferré has captured the ripeness and luxury of the 2018 vintage while staying just on the right side of the line when it comes to ripeness, sporting an enveloping plummy, mixed berry nose, freshened by pencil shaving and petrichor, with a bit of dark chocolate eventually showing itself. The textures here are really voluptuous and they’re able to balance the 14.2% alcohol pretty well. A very fine vintage here, though admittedly there’s always going to be a little unpredictability with 2018 ABVs as these enter their 3rd-4th decade.

94-97

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Red

2018 Château Léoville Barton

St. Julien Red Bordeaux Blend more

12/22/2023 - englishman's claret wrote: 97 points

The 2018 Léoville Barton is an amazing young wine, somehow harnessing the warmth of the 2018 vintage yet avoiding the excesses which can be associated with it. The nose is expectedly demure given its age, yet the crescendo the palate brings is extraordinary - packed with ripe yet poised blackberry, cassis, pencil, oyster sauce, and potpourri, lingering indefinitely. This is a baritone of a Léoville Barton, yet for all of its depth and enveloping tannin, there's a fine acidic spine bringing it all together. Impressive.
82% CS, 18% M, brought in between September 21-24 for the Merlot and September 29-October 6 for the Cabernet Sauvignon, reaching an (imperceptible) ABV of 14%. Elevage in 60% new oak. 96-97

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Red

2010 Château Pontet-Canet

Pauillac Red Bordeaux Blend more

7/12/2023 - englishman's claret wrote: 97 points

The 2010 Pontet Canet is a wine that’s both dramatic and classical, youngish but with great tension, Laocoon-like, full of dense, cool, intense fruit with the structure and acid to match. The cassis, blackberry, pencil, coal, and mineral notes are classic Pauillac and they linger and linger…

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Red

2005 Château Léoville Poyferré

St. Julien Red Bordeaux Blend more

1/24/2024 - englishman's claret wrote: 96 points

This example, ex-chateau, is more open than another recent example. In the mouth, it is a classic, superb Poyferré, packed with blueberry and potpourri; pillowy, powdery, and intense - yet with finesse to match.

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Red

2009 Château Léoville Las Cases

St. Julien Red Bordeaux Blend more

4/16/2023 - englishman's claret wrote: 98 points

The 2009 Léoville las Cases isn’t holding back its charms; yes, it’s a little young still and the oak isn’t quite integrated, but as soon as the cork is pulled you’re greeted with a big, gregarious nose. It’s obvious that this is a warm vintage las Cases, but the fruit seems to stay just on the right side of the line, avoiding marked heat or overripeness. The nose straight out of the decanter shows volumes of slightly jellied raspberry and cassis, which simply explode on the palate where the wine’s worth is really shown. There’s a lot of typical las Cases character here in the mineral, pencil, and cedar notes, but there’s also an interesting terra cotta like earthiness. If the fruit character suggests the character of the vintage, it’s the structural components which confirm it - this is a full, lush rendition of las Cases (perhaps uniquely so, at least in terms of vintages that preceded it) with tannins that are already quite manageable and enough acid to keep the wine fresh in the mouth. The only sensation of warmth is on the finish (which shows a creditable length) and perhaps I simply notice it because I’m looking.

If you’re drinking for pleasure rather than academic interest, it would perhaps be better to wait on these another 5 years, yet if you’re stuck with a young wine list at a restaurant, there are a thousand worse choices. However, I wrote the above note over the first 30 minutes after opening - then the wine shut down pretty firmly, not to start re-opening until 5 hours later. Had I tasted this during its closed phase, I would have been unimpressed. Revisited at lunch the next day, about 18 hours after opening (kept in the a clean bottle at 55F overnight), this has unfurled in all its glory - like that brief burst after opening, except with more of everything and the telltale las Cases potpourri note that usually develops with age. I upgraded this at that time from 96-98 points to 97-100. We will see how this magnificent wine develops.

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Red

2011 Vieux Château Certan

Pomerol Red Bordeaux Blend more

7/15/2018 - englishman's claret wrote: 93 points

I'm a big fan of VCC; I love the vintages since 1996 and Alexandre Thienpont is one of the geniuses of Bordeaux. Bearing that in mind, this is one of the most challenging VCC to get a bead on. The wine is so extraordinarily complex and dynamic that it keeps on changing in the glass. Frankly, I can't recall seeing one wine go through so many distinct iterations. It starts off tight with a wall of blackberry and an obvious herbal component imparted by the cab franc. But then this goes through an extremely spicy, black-olive, chateauneuf-type phase. This passes, too, eventually morphing into a plummy, white-flower, black pepper profile. Then it takes on fresh black coffee notes. Then the mint comes back transiently. There are many other iterations as well - which is the real VCC? Where does it go? I loved some of the phases, others not so much. Of course, this is perfectly crafted; the balance is perfect, the weight is delightful, and the finish is long. It's just a shapeshifter. 93+?

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Red

1995 Château Calon-Ségur

St. Estèphe Red Bordeaux Blend more

8/2/2015 - englishman's claret wrote: 92 points

This is decent enough. I got the bottle direct from the chateau. Tight, not really ready yet. Maybe in another 5 years. I decanted and followed this over the course of about 6 or 7 hours. Started out with a cedar, currant, mahogany, bloody nose. At 2ish hours, this was at peak expressiveness and complexity before retreating into its shell and showing more of a beef blood, oak profile for the rest of the time. Enough tannin to let this rest; it won't collapse in on itself. It's not that this is only immature; it's not clear that this has the makings of greatness.

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Red

1989 Château Palmer

Margaux Red Bordeaux Blend more

8/21/2021 - englishman's claret wrote: 98 points

The 1989 Château Palmer is a wine that (rightly) continues to garner superlatives. Like many of the top 89s, it’s just coming into full bloom - and I purposely use a floral metaphor given the lavender and violet intensity which characterizes this unquestionably great vintage of Palmer.

Followed at intervals for 4 hours in the decanter, this bottle (the first from an OWC opened today) offers a demure, if promising, nose immediately after decanting, seeming to shift minute by minute and offering frutti di bosco, lavender, pencil, leather, and ganache. But there’s nothing demure about the palate, where the wine positively explodes with luscious blueberry, lavender, violet, and cedar. Long and reverberating yet elegant - the essence of Palmer.

Moving through a phase around the hour mark dominated by alpine strawberry, this arrives at the peak of its powers after 2 hours in the decanter, packed with blueberry, cassis, alpine strawberry, lavender, and cedar; the best rendition of the nose yet. This still shows well at the 4 hour mark, by which point there are only a few sips left.

There’s no crime in opening these now provided the ability to decant for a couple of hours, but the best days for the 89 Palmer are ahead.

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Red

2000 Château Léoville Barton

St. Julien Red Bordeaux Blend more

3/5/2017 - englishman's claret wrote: 94 points

A funny beast, the 2000 Barton - you'd expect a big block of a wine, still painfully young and undeveloped. But you don't quite get that - youthful yes, but big and blocky? Certainly not. This was beautifully elegant; not exactly fine-boned, but lithe. Developing notes of cassis and blackberry with lots of mineral, leather, and smoke. Lots of depth. Medium bodied, appropriate weight (12.5%), nice length. A fitting foil to the 61. I won't touch the next one for another 5ish years.

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Red

2016 Château Léoville Las Cases

St. Julien Red Bordeaux Blend more

10/9/2023 - englishman's claret wrote: 97 points

The 2016 Léoville Las Cases is eons away from maturity, but it offers such clear promise. The nose here is totally classical, slightly strict but entirely enveloping, full of cassis with blackberry and a little raspberry alongside, further freshened by pencil and sea salt. Masses of cool fruit fill the mouth with a commensurate amount of tannin and enlivening acid (pH 3.66). The 13.6% ABV isn’t really palpable in the mouth or on the finish, which displays admirable length. It’s easy to draw a clear line between this, the 2010, the 1986, and the 1959.

75% CS, 14% M, 11% CF harvested September 30 - October 16.

96-98 points (+?)

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Red

2015 Château Pontet-Canet

Pauillac Red Bordeaux Blend more

12/7/2019 - englishman's claret wrote: 96 points

The 2015 Pontet Canet shows tremendous promise. As intense and saturating as the blueberry, wildflower, mineral, fresh leather nose is, it’s also so elegant and light on its feet. Beautiful presence and balance on the palate, full bodied with good acidity and no lack of structure, yet the tannins aren’t aggressive and almost creep up on you. Wonderful pencil and cassis finish. Something special is happening at Pontet Canet. 95-96

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Red

2016 Château Pedesclaux

Pauillac Red Bordeaux Blend more

6/19/2023 - englishman's claret wrote: 92 points

The 2016 Pedescalux is one of life’s easy joys - a wine which is just delightful to drink now, yet for all of its accessibility it offers Pauillac classicism too. There’s loads of cassis, pencil, mineral, and cedar. Yes, it’s not particularly deeply pitched - but the flavors are right and the balance is terrific. Drinking well now, yet with a good life ahead.

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Red

2009 Château Léoville Barton

St. Julien Red Bordeaux Blend more

9/22/2018 - englishman's claret wrote: 95 points

This was probably at its apogee about 2.5 hours in the decanter, showing a really forward, shockingly charming personality full of ripe blackcurrant, cedar, pencil, mineral, leather, and just a hint of ganache on the nose. Dash of violet on the palate. So pure and long. This may not be the longest lived Barton, but it is so terribly bewitching now. I could easily finish a bottle (or mag?) myself. It knows just where to go. I am bewitched. I will be buying more. 95+

9 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comments (4)

Red

2016 Château Rauzan-Ségla

Margaux Red Bordeaux Blend more

11/16/2019 - englishman's claret wrote: 95 points

I opened the first bottle of a case to see what all the fuss is about. There's no smoke without fire - this is a fascinating bottle of wine. The super plush blueberry, lavender, ganache notes on the nose carry through to the palate, where there's a refreshing thyme/rosemary herbaceousness as well. I'm intrigued (maybe perplexed is more apt) - this has such an intense nose and great depth of flavor on the palate, yet the tannins are unbelievably soft. I wonder if it has the legs to go as long as some other 16s will - but then again, a lack of tannin was supposedly the "flaw" of the 82s when they were tasted young...

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Red

2010 Château Léoville Barton

St. Julien Red Bordeaux Blend more

10/24/2022 - englishman's claret wrote: 95 points

Aromatically, this is near-identical to the last bottle opened in 2019 but today's bottle is opening beautifully, no longer clamping down after a little air. This evolved positively over the ~3 hours it was drunk, unfurling to reveal layer after layer of classic Barton with blackberry and blackcurrant notes complemented by cedar and mineral. Beautiful, in an energetic way. Long finish.

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Red

2015 Château Giscours

Margaux Red Bordeaux Blend more

9/25/2022 - englishman's claret wrote: 92 points

The 2015 Giscours offers a beautiful mixed berry nose, pretty, full, and effusive. A touch hollow on the mid palate but it lasts well. One to watch.

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Red

2014 Château Léoville Las Cases

St. Julien Red Bordeaux Blend more

2/11/2020 - englishman's claret wrote: 92 points

Opened this 2014 Léoville Las Cases to sort out whether I should add it to the cellar. After drinking this over 2 days, I am less bullish than some of the others here on cellartracker. The nose is initially quite raspberry focused beyond the new oak, by day 2 developing a more currant-dominated profile. The main issue is that this does come across somewhat unbalanced on the palate, with acidity and tannin overpowering the body. Finishes well with a potent raspberry presence, though. A good job from a vintage which produced very mixed wines, if not on the top tier (or next to top tier) of las Cases.

8 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comments (2)

Red

2009 Château Pontet-Canet

Pauillac Red Bordeaux Blend more

7/12/2023 - englishman's claret wrote: 94 points

The 2009 Pontet Canet is a satisfying wine but suffers from proximity to the 2010, at least at this point. This shows the natural opulence of the 2009 vintage, offering juicy black and red fruit alongside rose and pencil. The acid actually isn’t bad and there’s no dearth of tannin, yet it still comes across as Rubenesque. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

94-95

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Red

2000 Château Pichon-Longueville Baron

Pauillac Red Bordeaux Blend more

6/11/2023 - englishman's claret wrote: 95 points

2000 Pauillac (Boston Commanderie de Bordeaux): Another glorious bottle of the 2000 Pichon Baron, really needing no time to show well and offering a big, powerful black-fruited nose, accented by graphite, coal embers, and an inky/nori like note. This is biggish, but so engagingly racy and just begging to be drunk now (though there's a long life ahead).

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Red

2009 Château Lynch-Bages

Pauillac Red Bordeaux Blend more

10/24/2022 - englishman's claret wrote: 95 points

Very 2009-ish inasmuch as the fruit leans toward the red end of the spectrum and shows an airy intensity with soft textures. The redcurrant, griotte, raspberry compote profile is actually reminiscent of a modern-day version of the 1947 or 1949. Beautiful depth on the palate yet with a crystalline clarity, minerally-fresh, graphite-filled. This finishes very well.

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Red

2010 Château Sociando-Mallet

Haut-Médoc Red Bordeaux Blend more

5/22/2022 - englishman's claret wrote: 92 points

Just super - blackberry, gravel, clay; a traditional, masculine nose, almost Baron-like. This isn’t quite ready yet but from 2025 on, it should do what Sociando always does, providing a high-quality, classically-styled experience at a fair price.

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Red

2016 Domaine du Pégau Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Réservée

Red Rhone Blend more

1/4/2020 - englishman's claret wrote: 94 points

The 2016 Pegau has little difficulty in conveying its excellence - ripe black fruits, smoke, and garrigue, précise and deep. Supple but elegant palate with a potent, long finish. For my taste, this is better than the 15 by a comfortable margin and should be a long-lived Chateauneuf du Pape, retaining enough fruit to keep it vigorous as it develops interesting tertiary components over the next 30+ years.

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Red

2016 Château Figeac

St. Émilion Grand Cru Red Bordeaux Blend more

1/18/2020 - englishman's claret wrote: 96 points

What an enticing nose you’ll find in the 2016 Figeac - big, plush, polished, very deep, beautifully ripe blue and black fruited with a savory, leathery, tobacco profile. Wonderful class and Figeac character without any of the green or hardness of the 1970s-1980s. Vivacious, supple, and long on the palate. Lots of material but great balance. This finishes very well. This towers above many famous vintages, including the 1982 and 1990. Following the superb 2015, this confirms Figeac’s return to the greatness of the 1960s.

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  • Tasting notes: 4,331 notes on 3,448 wines

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