Community Tasting Note

Saturday, January 8, 2011 - Impressively deep purple hue with a ruby rim exhibiting elegance and finesse! Complex nose with meaty, dusty and mineral overtone leading to an outburst of very dark fruit with black currant, blackberry, black cherry aromas adorned by some subtle but noticeable black licorice undertone. First reaction is barn-yard manure coupled with rocky, earthy soil on a vegetable farm. The bouquet shows some vanilla chocolate, cedar, leather and cigar box components. It is a warm, intense and spicy nose overall, which shows the full power and sturdiness of St. Estèphe and this great Château! All of these translate into a full-bodied wine, very rich and viscous on the palate. The attack is tannic but opens up quickly. It's like taking a bitter chocolate bite, followed by an explosion of opulent fruits with lots of black currant, black cherry, ripe plum and licorice. There's bracing acidity and firm tannins on the mid-palate, forming a solid and balanced structure supporting the other nuances. Very long finish and the intense heat persists for almost 20 seconds before the panoply of balanced acidity, licorice, leather, cigar box and layers upon layers of fruit shows up harmoniously. Excellent depth and complexity on the finish! Great longevity: this wine will evolve gracefully in your cellar for years to come. Already accessible with decanting, but best after 2014.

P.S. Caught a bad cold the very next day... couldn't smell just about everything else in the world, but the nose of the wine was still going strong! Amazing intensity!.... then after a week in the bottle (with a stopper on) when I got my smell back, the wine still maintained its structure and vibrant fruit characters. You can of course feel the oxidation, but it was still quite nice!

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