3/14/2024 - Siwink57 Likes this wine:

This was an amazing left banker for the price. The addition of Merlot offsets some of the greenness of the Cab Franc. Was even better on day 2. Will be checking out this vineyards future offerings. 4.1 stars

3/10/2024 - Purple Tooth wrote:

I hate to be a jerk. But..I qualify. I have 3 cases of this in 3 formats. The first time I tried this I said, I dot get it. Its been a long night and I will reserve judgment. This time I popped a 1/2 to check in. Interesting? Yes, If you like reading between lines. Otherwise, a head scratcher. This tells me that I either dont know much about wine, or I am shamelessly calling out my own mistakes. Ok ok....Now you need to know about the wine, instead of reading my whine...

In a grapy stage, this is the hopeful voice and the positive part of this encounter. I hope that what I taste as oak creme, alcohol, and underdeveloped fruit turns into something sensational in 7+ years. Meanwhile, cellar carry for me, and an advenure for you. Please write back....HOLD___

1/30/2024 - econnertx Does not like this wine:

funky taste profile, very, very tight. never opened up. chalky heavy tannin profile. Not to my liking

1/12/2024 - short and confused wrote:

First bottle of 6 bought on release. In a beautiful spot. All I was hoping for from St Estephe. Open and ready to drink with some teriary notes but still with a solid backbone. Bell pepper, cinnamon, red cherry, tobacco, and smoke. Excellent stuff!

12/8/2023 - blarmston wrote:

Not a TN but a question to all of you who know this wine much better than I do.

I'm taking this to a French dinner this evening, and was wondering about decant time?

Some more recent TN's suggest 2 hours, others much longer. There aren't too many recent notes so thats why I'm here.

Any suggestions/thoughts would be appreciated, cheers...

11/16/2023 - blanquito wrote:

This is truly wonderful. Lifted, exotic, ethereal, and spicy on the heady bouquet, with a layered, garrigue sweetness on the palate. The texture is silky and whatever structure it had in its youth is fully resolved, but it is otherwise just ascending to the peak of its powers. This is a clean, stable, flaw-free Musar, but with enough VA and complexity to still taste like the real McCoy. Easily the best Musar I’ve had, which covers the 97-05 vintages.

10/27/2023 - Chupeaka wrote:

59% Cabernet Sauvignon, 37% Merlot and 4% Petit Verdot.

In the nose, floral notes, dark fruits, black cherry, spice (from the cab sauv and the alcohol), cream and smoke. Full-bodied wine with vivid purple color.

In the mouth, quite ripe with juicy black fruit and truffle come through. Acid and grainy tannins are balanced, albeit tannins are little bit coarse and drying. Finish medium with a powdery sensation and truffle. This wine is quite smooth and glossy.

Merlot in this wine emerges stronger than the cabernet, which sometimes gave inky and spicy notes. Overall, dominated more by the dark, juicy fruit and mineral.

Decent wine but at times too alcoholic and ripe and didn't have a freshness and lift I generally prefer. On the second day, the wine drank a lot better but still these two elements were a bit distracting. I think this should be good from now till 2028.

Changed my review to 90pts and maintained a neutral opinion on the wine.

Better deals out there. Pay a little more for something like Cantemerle or even less for top wines from Castillon Cotes des Bordeaux and Fronsac.

10/13/2023 - _Xenon wrote:

Nothing really distinguishable. High quality, but I wouldn‘t recognize this wine. Obviously too young. But even for 32 €, I guess I know some alternatives.

5/30/2023 - loslakers Likes this wine:

Really nice wine for the $20 I bought it for from Costco.

7/21/2023 - sboyle Likes this wine:

Notes of cedar, vanilla, black currants and blackberries. Medium-plus body, acidity and tannins. Tannin character has a light amount of grip with a smooth character. Overall, I would prefer less oak, but it’s a well made wine.

7/16/2023 - yeti575rider wrote:

Not really feeling this. Drank after a Rhys pinot that was singing and this was showing on the Bordeaux funky side (perhaps a bit of Brett?). Improved as I got used to it but not really my thing. Others seemed to have similar traction. Definitely in the secondary phase and not tight so this is different than some other notes.

2/23/2023 - guruguru wrote:

Chateau Cantenac Brown 2009
グレートヴィンテージ 2009にも拘らず、かなり熟成が進んでいる。
一緒に飲んだ Chateau Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande 2009 と比べると、まだまだ若い印象の Comtesse de Lalandeと違い、悪い意味で老け込んだ印象を感じる。
余韻も複雑味も想像より浅く、少し残念な気分。
一般的な評価とかなり乖離があるので、ボトル固有の問題か？
Despite being a great vintage 2009, it has aged quite well.
Compared to the Chateau Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande 2009 that we drank together, the Comtesse de Lalande still gives the impression of being young, while the Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande is aged in a bad way.
The lingering and complex flavors are shallower than expected, which is a bit disappointing.
There is a considerable discrepancy from the general evaluation, so is this a bottle-specific problem?

2/9/2023 - Decanting Queen wrote:

I am not sure whether to mark this flawed or not, but it was so disappointing.
Double decanted an hour before leaving the house to attend a dinner. Tasted over the next 2 + hours and it never got better. Nose was decent but seemed like all the fruit had fallen out of this wine and left just wood/cedar on the palate. Of the many bottles brought that night, it was the only one half full at the end of the evening. It had not seemed corked when I opened it at home, but it just never opened up.
Now, after reading a review for the 2000, if this could have been better with a 5 hour decant. Most of the reviews of the 2000 are disappointing and sound a bit like this one. However, the most recent with a 5 hour decant ‘found’ the fruit.
So not sure if my experience here was due to a flawed bottle or user error.

12/5/2022 - vide Likes this wine:

This wine has attracted some very high scores. But I don't know. It is certainly a very good wine for its price. It has dark chocolate tannin and is quite deep. But (and if you will forgive the paradox) the depth is on the surface. It begins at 94 points but ends at 90-91.

Perhaps it needs more time.

10/8/2022 - ejca Likes this wine:

Ok, maybe past its prime.

4/27/2022 - ras2006 Likes this wine:

drinking it over two days. very dark red, good fruit with a slight smokey overtone, mild/medium tannins - very nice

4/17/2022 - BradA Likes this wine:

It’s good…. Not sure I would say amazing and at $120 one can do better…. I would buy pichon baron or the leoville wines instead as they can be found for a range close to this.

12/8/2021 - drrobvino wrote:

6th bottle of 9. This was singing tonight, and was a hallmark wine in a crowd of other heavy hitters.
Mature, regal, traditional; stately and reserved. Elegantly perfect and perfectly elegant.
Cassis, pencil lead, fertile and wet farmyard soil, bell pepper, plum skin.
Chiseled tannins that have been polished over the years by time in the bottle.
Lovely wine tonight, at peak, drink through 2025 or so.

3/5/2022 - 3daywinereview.com wrote:

Day 1: Light style Bordeaux with chestnuts, sour cherry, spice, gravel and damp earth. A simple but well made wine. Nothing to get over excited about. 88 points
Day 2: I have had this wine form previous vintages and disappointed I am. This features Christmas spices, chestnuts, muted fruit, mild spice and a thin finish. Serious lack of complexity for the price point and based on day 2 not sure this will age well. 87 points
Day 2.5: Again why I do 3 day wine review. Amazing difference on this wine than earlier in the day. More concentrated and will see what this does on day 3. Not 98 as one reviewer suggested (James Suckling on steroids). More concentrated featuring Christmas spices, minerals, cherry, plum, chestnuts, gravel and blueberries. Medium plus finish and good acidity. 91 points
Dau 3: Wow this is a nice surprise and transformation for sure. Gravel, cherry, plum, minerals, spice, tobacco, spices and earth. Really a nice transformation and I love to see an initial impression proven wrong. 92 points
Recommendation: Well this is a nice surprise. Went from ok to really great value and age this up to a decade. Buy.

2/17/2022 - Smoky86 Likes this wine:

Solid effort. Prominent plum at this time, paired with spices. Tannins noticeable but not unpleasant. Medium finish. Great with food now but has a lot of potential — I would wait 2-3 years.

2/5/2022 - kfran24 wrote:

It’s a nice wine. Compared to the ‘14 Pontet Canet I had last night I do think it’s better. This doesn’t strike me as a $150-160 bottle of wine. It feels overpriced at $160. Nothing too special here.

11/20/2021 - fhayek wrote:

Drank from a half bottle for two days.
Cost me 16 EUR, full bottle price apparently around 24 EUR.

Overall, not bad at all but not worth the price.

Dark and powerful without being too massive or clumsy, void of any exaggeration. Masculine and self-confident; bone dry.

Problem is, while it's undeniably serious and respectable, there is little there that is actually fun. As banal as it sounds, it could be more tasty.

Difficult to rate - purists will surely rate it higher, for me it stops at 88+.

10/2/2021 - Wine_Bear Likes this wine:

Perfectly ready to drink. Lovely example of Langoa. Myrtilles, black berries, excellent balance and mouth feel.

11/12/2021 - MRG73 wrote:

Not sure how the rating on this is 94+ on cellar tracker. Unresolved tannins make this very hard to drink right now, even with 2 hr decant. Good structure and reasonable concentration of ripe flavours which may make this a 93-94 point wine in 5 years but if you have this wine, do yourself a favour and leave it for 5 years.

5/21/2021 - Agunner23 Likes this wine:

I just wanted to try a young Bordeaux before I put the others in long-term storage. It took about 3 hours to open up and pretty good. I Can't wait to revisit this wine in a decade. In the meantime, I have a bottle of 2010 that I don't know if I should open for my birthday my other choices is 2001 Monte Bello or 2011 and 2012 Far Niente cave collection cab. Any suggestions?

5/17/2021 - dentistdhk wrote:

Earthy

4/28/2021 - Sean Tay Likes this wine:

Pronounced nose with notes of spices, cassis, pepper, spices, black fruits. Medium+ acidity and high tannin.

Had a vertical flight and rating as follow:

1) 1995 - 96 point
2) 1998 - 95 point
2) 2005 - 95 point
3) 1982 - 94 point
4) 2010 - 94 point
5) 2009 - 92 point
6) 2007 - 91 point

Observation was that between 2009 and 2010. 2010 is more ready to drink as compare to 2009 which is still closed. 1995 and 1998 are in very good drinking window when primary note meets tertiary notes. 1982 wasn’t performing well despite strong vintage and a very strong neighbour Pichon Lalande.

4/10/2021 - Léognan Likes this wine:

Consistent note as November 2020. A bit more classic, a bit less Wow. A good wine with high alcohol which makes the future of the wine somewhat uncertain.

8/24/2020 - sirpat00 wrote:

Bordeaux 1990 horizontal tasting (Fribourg): 1990 Bordeaux horizontal hosted by a private collector. 30 years down the road, the vintage comes across as bold and muscular, youthful and in general not yet open for business or at times closed. Highlights included Figeac, Haut-Brion, Mouton, Calon Ségur – and to my surprise – Marquis de Terme. See tasting story for more take-aways and the complete line-up.

Tasting note
Tobacco, barnyard, scorched earth, dark fruit, dry leather. Fresh and fruit forward palate, tannin with grip and a long, juicy finish. This was the oldest Haut-Bailley I have tasted to date (others include 2009, 2010, 2015, 2016, 2017) and I'm impressed by the constantly good to very good performance over the years.

2/27/2020 - Wine G Likes this wine:

This is no joke. 2nd time with this bottling. My first pour of this lovely wine, there was a small floating piece of something? Weird. Swirling around this smells so fresh and tasty, cardamom and pencil lead and cassis, true pauillac Bordeaux. This thing is bothering me. I swirl around my glass to the point it finally sticks to the side of the glass. Pull it out with my pinky. No joke, this is a piece of a pencil shaving. Wood, with a lead edge. Wtf, my glass was empty.

Great wine - even if they are stuffing it with pencil shavings !

11/25/2019 - Frank Murray III wrote:

Pulled from the cellar and then blinded the bottle, pouring into several glasses. Was uniformly enjoyed. In this bottle, I found oranges, lime zest, green apple, and good intensity. Drinks with a purity and balance that is lovely. And I will also add a point about drinking now....while this doesn't show the softer and more open-knitted feel of the 2009, for me there is nothing wrong with drinking the 2008 now. With air in the glass, this showed well to me. I recognize I am going to be in the minority in my view, but drinking this now does just fine for me. It's an amazing wine for what it is. Broadly, I am not buying stuff to age for a decade or more. Life now is about sharing, enjoying wines with others and not putting my wines into a cellared prison for years and years. This is just me.

10/31/2019 - djhammond Likes this wine:

As per note from 6 months ago, this is a magnificent wine showing early development for the year. The balance and depth are excellent with a lengthy finish, and it really is one of the dark horses of the vintage, but with still room for improvement. 96+

1/18/2019 - Marius Cavasdan Likes this wine:

merlot 60% cabernetfranc 40% over an year in french oak. 2001 vintage Brick edge. But core is still deep dark. Expressive nose. Black fruits. Dark plums. Ripe. Smooth leather. Mouth is on the same black fruits profile. Plums and blackcurrants. Long. A good buy from Carrefour