2001 Château de la Rivière Aria

Community Tasting Notes (5) Avg Score: 90.8 points

• Options

  • Post a Comment
  • View Zweder's profile
  • Report Issue

  9/13/2018 - Zweder wrote: 90 Points

  Chocolate and dark berries in the bouquet. On the palate dark berries and cherries, sweet spices, juicy acidity and round tannin. Ready now.

  Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment

• Options

  • Post a Comment
  • View MattTM's profile
  • Report Issue

  5/25/2011 - MattTM wrote:

  CellarTracker Bordeaux Trip; 5/23/2011-5/26/2011 (Bordeaux, France): 100% Merlot. Huge nose, showing off aromas of coffee bean, chocolate, rich black cherry, dark plum, a touch of blueberry, asphalt, and leather. Still a tad tight on the palate, giving off black currents, rich chocolate, espresso, and some bitterness in the form of red plum and boysenberry. Tons of acidity, along with a generous amount of dusty, drying tannins. Long finish, showing notes of coffee and chocolate at the end. This clearly needs more time in bottle, but shows good potential down the road. Very good.

  Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment

• Options

  • Post a Comment
  • View grafstrb's profile
  • Report Issue

  5/25/2011 - grafstrb wrote: 92 Points

  -- tasted a single glass non-blind over 5 – 10 minutes --
  -- 100% Merlot --
  
  NOSE: deep, dark Nose; hints of leather and old mint; black cherry; cranberry; complex.
  
  BODY: violet-blood red color of great depth; full bodied.
  
  TASTE: great acid-tannin balance; still has ample tannin; leathery plum funk; finish is *long*; 13% alc. not noticeable. Rolland certainly left his mark on this wine, but I don’t care because it’s good! Needs time.
  
  B: 50, 5, 13, 16, 8 = 92

  Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment

• Options

  • Post a Comment
  • View Paul S's profile
  • Report Issue

  5/25/2011 - Paul S wrote: 92 Points

  CT Bordeaux Trip, Day 3 (Right Bank & Chateau Coutet for Dinner): Some Chateau make second wines, some do prestige cuvees with big name consultants. This was one of the later, 100% merlot, and very much a Michel Rolland wine. Lovely deep nose, full of opulent chocolate, dark plum and liquered black cherry, some sweet spices, and earthy, mossy, truffle scents. Heady stuff. The palate was just starting to soften up into a plush velvety feel, with layers of pure plums and prunes, very opulent, voluptuous on the attack, but with a nice acidity and a sense of mineral and a touch of leather and meat as it moved into a surprisingly fresh and balanced finish where there was just a bit of earth, cocoa bean and spice. A good wine for sure, but not quite my cup of tea. Very nice, with a bit of elegance to it, but just a bit soul-less. Still very, very young though, and there is lots of room for development still - time will tell. It may not be the longest term wine, but it should easily age and improve over the next decade and a half or so.

  Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment

• Options

  • Post a Comment
  • View Zweder's profile
  • Report Issue

  2/5/2010 - Zweder wrote: 89 Points

  Occasional tasting group: "Terroir or bottles with a story" (@ TBa): Completely incomparable to the normal 2001 la Rivière. Almost new world style. Concentrated and a lot of sweetness. Beautiful bouquet with toasted oak, liquorice, blackberries and some barnyard. On the palate a lot of blackberries again and ripe raspberries. Full bodied and juicy. It is a pity the wine lacks complexity in this stage. Hope that this will come in another 3+ years of ageing. 89+

  Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment

Professional reviews have copyrights and you can view them here for your personal use only as private content. To view pro reviews you must either subscribe to a pre-integrated publication or manually enter reviews below. Learn more.