Last of 12, opened 90 minutes, perfect cork and level, as last August, attractive, no sense of fade, if anything greater nuance developing, and more pleasurable than technical mark may suggest, plateau but no rush. VGI (17).
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11th of 12, opened 15 minutes, perfect cork and level, possibly most attractive bottle so far having rounded out nicely, good drive to black plum fruit suffused with minerality, just a bit simple for better than VGI (17) but this bottle higher on pleasure.
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Slowly starting to fade away, yet there is more than enough, ripe, soft-textured, sweet, earthy plums, truffle, thyme and wet earth on the nose and elegantly textured palate to make this fun to taste for a few more years. However, it is time to drink up before more of the fruit continues to fade.
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10th of 12, opened an hour, perfect cork and level, quite rich, not particularly nuanced, oddly muted fruit flavours and a tad short, drinkable but not entirely clean (I think!), no upside and no reason to hold. G (15).
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8th of 12, decanted an hour, perfect cork and level, more convincing performance than last year's bottle and somehow weightier, just about a point, lovely plummy fruit with nice if essentially simple dimension, attractive earthiness, tad short, but higher on pleasure than mark suggests. VGI (17).
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7th of 12, decanted an hour, perfect cork and level, essentially simple if with attractive plum fruit with hints of chocolate and earth, good balancing acidity giving it an attractive freshness if a bit short, components to show more nuance but probably won't, no rush but probably at peak. VG+ (16.5)….rounder and fuller 2000 on same night perhaps less immediately attractive but more potential.
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5th of 12, decanted an hour, perfect cork and level, much improved, still youthful and rather dense, but with lovely core of ripe fruit, almost velvety, good length and persistence, just a bit simple for better than current mark (often a problem in merlot based wines for those like me looking for complexity and nuance), scope to develop further. Just F (17.5).
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4th of 12, decanted an hour, previous notes good or better, this bottle very good plus, so on improving trend - dense, dusty plum red, little development; broad, dusty, plummy bouquet, ripe, but contradicted by vegetal whiif, light spicing; medium full bodied, decent length, but flavours a bit broad and diffuse and a bit clumsy, merlot dominant, decent pleasurable but not fine wine from a site adjacent to Canon and Belair which promises more and had a much higher reputation 150 years ago! (16.5/20).
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This is turning out very nicely, and I think will only get better over the next 3-5 years. Shame because I just quaffed my last bottle and this one was delicious. Paul D's 2011 notes (scroll down) are spot on.
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Medium dark ruby colour. Good bouquet but nothing special, excellent on the palate, very round, but the finish is only medium lenght. Fully mature, drink now.
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Medium/deep ruby core, pale garnet rim. Nose is pleasant enough, if not particularly complex with plum, vanilla and a touch of earth and coffee. Medium/full bodied on the palate, ripe fruit, vanilla oak, not overly concentrated, moderate acidity, indeed lack a bit of structure on the medium length finish. Maybe past its very best and time to start drinking up.
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Good quality St-Emilion of medium ruby color, the wine has a reasonably intense nose, showing developing characters and fair complexity, with blackberry, plum, vanilla, cloves, chocolate and mint. Medium in acidity, the tannin is ripe and silky, of fairly full-bodied and showing reasonable concentrated flavors of blackberry, plum, cloves and toast. The wine is of balance but has only a fairly short finish. It is ready to drink now and can benefit from further ageing of another 2-3 years.
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Youthful appearance with a medium/deep ruby, medium pale ruby rim. Nose is quite rich and intense, but shows freshness too. Red fruits, plum, vanilla, spice, hints of tea and earth. Medium/full bodied on the palate with sweet plum and strawberry fruit on the initial attack, some spice and notes of soil, soft, polished tannins, decent fresh acidity on a good length, creamy, harmonious finish. Modern but well balanced and not oaky or overdone - this was better than expected. Drinking well now, but no hurry.
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Grab Bag Tasting @ my place (Netherlands): Ripe and smooth red berry fruit. Modern, slightly hot. Pruney tell-tale Merlot. Tasty, but still young and a tad anonymous 16.5/20
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Lovely wine for the money. Soft as silk, nice pruney fruit. The herbal notes coming from the CabFranc-Foundation are shining through, which gives this wine it's character (a slightly savoury rusticity). Good length, harmonious to the end. Very Good!
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Deep colour with no signs of ageing. Lovely bouquet of violets and herbs. In the mouth, silky-textured, medium-bodied but quite intense, good balance, a little heat on the finish. Very fine indeed. Starting to drink now, excellent medium-term potential.
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Rubi red, still looking young. The nose is dominated by the oak notes, toasted, coffee and chocolate that go along some blackberries and plums. It seems to be in a dumb fase right now and should be laid down a little longer.The mouth shows great acidity, good body and a silk finish.
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Bordeaux 2000/2001 (Casa do Porto - SP): 73% Merlot, 22% Cabernet Franc and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon Limpido, ruby e com leves tons violáceos. No nariz aromas de fruta madura, café, flores e algo herbaceo. Na boca apresenta-se muito equilibrado, com boa acidez, taninos intensos, e boa persistencia. Fruta madura marca na boca. Aveludado. Excelente.
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2/1/2023 - liber Likes this wine: 90 Points
Last of 12, opened 90 minutes, perfect cork and level, as last August, attractive, no sense of fade, if anything greater nuance developing, and more pleasurable than technical mark may suggest, plateau but no rush. VGI (17).
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8/10/2022 - liber Likes this wine: 90 Points
11th of 12, opened 15 minutes, perfect cork and level, possibly most attractive bottle so far having rounded out nicely, good drive to black plum fruit suffused with minerality, just a bit simple for better than VGI (17) but this bottle higher on pleasure.
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8/28/2021 - Jeff Leve wrote: 89 Points
Slowly starting to fade away, yet there is more than enough, ripe, soft-textured, sweet, earthy plums, truffle, thyme and wet earth on the nose and elegantly textured palate to make this fun to taste for a few more years. However, it is time to drink up before more of the fruit continues to fade.
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5/5/2021 - liber wrote: 86 Points
10th of 12, opened an hour, perfect cork and level, quite rich, not particularly nuanced, oddly muted fruit flavours and a tad short, drinkable but not entirely clean (I think!), no upside and no reason to hold. G (15).
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1/25/2021 - liber wrote: flawed
9th of 12....corked!
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5/24/2020 - liber Likes this wine: 90 Points
8th of 12, decanted an hour, perfect cork and level, more convincing performance than last year's bottle and somehow weightier, just about a point, lovely plummy fruit with nice if essentially simple dimension, attractive earthiness, tad short, but higher on pleasure than mark suggests. VGI (17).
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8/17/2019 - liber Likes this wine: 89 Points
7th of 12, decanted an hour, perfect cork and level, essentially simple if with attractive plum fruit with hints of chocolate and earth, good balancing acidity giving it an attractive freshness if a bit short, components to show more nuance but probably won't, no rush but probably at peak. VG+ (16.5)….rounder and fuller 2000 on same night perhaps less immediately attractive but more potential.
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3/11/2018 - liber wrote: flawed
6th of 12, decanted an hour, corked, richer and with more drive underneath.
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12/24/2017 - Ralph_ wrote: 87 Points
From a magnum. Drink out.
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8/10/2017 - liber Likes this wine: 91 Points
5th of 12, decanted an hour, perfect cork and level, much improved, still youthful and rather dense, but with lovely core of ripe fruit, almost velvety, good length and persistence, just a bit simple for better than current mark (often a problem in merlot based wines for those like me looking for complexity and nuance), scope to develop further. Just F (17.5).
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8/21/2015 - liber Likes this wine: 88 Points
4th of 12, decanted an hour, previous notes good or better, this bottle very good plus, so on improving trend - dense, dusty plum red, little development; broad, dusty, plummy bouquet, ripe, but contradicted by vegetal whiif, light spicing; medium full bodied, decent length, but flavours a bit broad and diffuse and a bit clumsy, merlot dominant, decent pleasurable but not fine wine from a site adjacent to Canon and Belair which promises more and had a much higher reputation 150 years ago! (16.5/20).
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4/15/2015 - Comte Flaneur wrote: 90 Points
This is turning out very nicely, and I think will only get better over the next 3-5 years. Shame because I just quaffed my last bottle and this one was delicious. Paul D's 2011 notes (scroll down) are spot on.
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4/3/2015 - ThalesGaspar Likes this wine: 88 Points
Medium dark ruby colour. Good bouquet but nothing special, excellent on the palate, very round, but the finish is only medium lenght. Fully mature, drink now.
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8/27/2014 - Paul D wrote: 84 Points
Medium/deep ruby core, pale garnet rim. Nose is pleasant enough, if not particularly complex with plum, vanilla and a touch of earth and coffee. Medium/full bodied on the palate, ripe fruit, vanilla oak, not overly concentrated, moderate acidity, indeed lack a bit of structure on the medium length finish. Maybe past its very best and time to start drinking up.
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3/14/2013 - peterchoy wrote: 88 Points
Good quality St-Emilion of medium ruby color, the wine has a reasonably intense nose, showing developing characters and fair complexity, with blackberry, plum, vanilla, cloves, chocolate and mint. Medium in acidity, the tannin is ripe and silky, of fairly full-bodied and showing reasonable concentrated flavors of blackberry, plum, cloves and toast. The wine is of balance but has only a fairly short finish. It is ready to drink now and can benefit from further ageing of another 2-3 years.
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3/18/2012 - DonalOB wrote: 87 Points
Right-bank Bordeaux tasting (Watson's, Hong Kong): Some herb on nose but otherwise round, ripe fruit with little depth. Low acidity. Bit flabby for me.
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8/24/2011 - Paul D wrote: 90 Points
Youthful appearance with a medium/deep ruby, medium pale ruby rim. Nose is quite rich and intense, but shows freshness too. Red fruits, plum, vanilla, spice, hints of tea and earth. Medium/full bodied on the palate with sweet plum and strawberry fruit on the initial attack, some spice and notes of soil, soft, polished tannins, decent fresh acidity on a good length, creamy, harmonious finish. Modern but well balanced and not oaky or overdone - this was better than expected. Drinking well now, but no hurry.
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5/11/2010 - jkoenen wrote: 88 Points
Grab Bag Tasting @ my place (Netherlands): Ripe and smooth red berry fruit. Modern, slightly hot. Pruney tell-tale Merlot. Tasty, but still young and a tad anonymous 16.5/20
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11/6/2009 - jkoenen wrote:
Lovely wine for the money. Soft as silk, nice pruney fruit. The herbal notes coming from the CabFranc-Foundation are shining through, which gives this wine it's character (a slightly savoury rusticity). Good length, harmonious to the end. Very Good!
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11/8/2008 - Captain Haddock wrote: 90 Points
Deep colour with no signs of ageing. Lovely bouquet of violets and herbs. In the mouth, silky-textured, medium-bodied but quite intense, good balance, a little heat on the finish. Very fine indeed. Starting to drink now, excellent medium-term potential.
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9/29/2006 - cousteau wrote: 91 Points
Rubi red, still looking young. The nose is dominated by the oak notes, toasted, coffee and chocolate that go along some blackberries and plums. It seems to be in a dumb fase right now and should be laid down a little longer.The mouth shows great acidity, good body and a silk finish.
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9/28/2006 - losvinhos wrote: 90 Points
Bordeaux 2000/2001 (Casa do Porto - SP): 73% Merlot, 22% Cabernet Franc and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon
Limpido, ruby e com leves tons violáceos. No nariz aromas de fruta madura, café, flores e algo herbaceo. Na boca apresenta-se muito equilibrado, com boa acidez, taninos intensos, e boa persistencia.
Fruta madura marca na boca. Aveludado. Excelente.
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