A delicious vin de plaisir, this medium-bodied, perfumed wine has no hard edges, a plum, cherry, currant-based nose and flavors, and seamless integration of tannin and acidity.
The wine has retained a cool climate high acidity, giving it a more compressed personality than I had envisioned. The color remains a dark ruby/garnet, but the nose has taken on a more vegetal, earthy note to go along with the new oak and sweet red and black currant personality.
The 2005 Haut-Bages Libéral offers loads of blackcurrant fruit, licorice, spice and forest floor. It is medium to full-bodied, with supple tannin and an expansive, textured mouthfeel and finish.
Dense ruby/purple, it tips the scales at 15% natural alcohol and was bottled unfined and unfiltered. Full-bodied in texture, it offers up loads of blueberry, blackberry and raspberry fruit intermixed with some cedar, vanilla and a touch of spring flowers. Impressively built, with good acidity and light tannin.
Deep garnet colored, the 2010 Carruades de Lafite charges out of the gate with bold scents of baked plums and boysenberries followed by hints of menthol, tobacco leaf, cloves and smoked meats. Medium to full-bodied, the palate delivers a well-poised frame of ripe, grainy tannins and seamless freshness supporting the savory flavors, finishing with a spicy kick.
Deep garnet in color, the 2010 Clos du Marquis opens with medicinal, cherry cough syrup scents followed by a core of plum preserves and crème de cassis plus a touch of wild sage. Medium to full-bodied, the palate is coated with maturing black fruits and dried mint flavors, framed by chewy tannins and finishing with a refreshing lift.
Classic Gewurztraminer in all its glory: mid gold in color, this has a pronounced classic nose of lychee, rose petals, baking spice and ripe stone fruit with notes of earthy minerality. Sweet and rich textured, round mouth feel with moderately intense flavors similar to nose with an added note of stern ginger and smoky spice on the finish.
It has a cautious nose at first, eventually opening with scents of ripe red berry fruit, such as cranberry and wild strawberry, sage and autumn leaves following closely behind. The palate is medium-bodied with pointed tannin, perhaps missing a little depth on the mid-palate, tapering towards that linear finish.
An intoxicating, staggering perfume of tangerine oil, orange marmalade, apricots and exotic fruit soars from the glass of this full-bodied, beautifully textured, pure yet harmonious, expansive, dry white wine. This is about as good as it gets for a southern Rhone white.
Deep garnet in color, the 2010 Lafite Rothschild is a little mute on the nose at this stage, opening to reveal warm blackcurrants, baked plums and boysenberry scents with hints of chocolate mint, violets, cedar chest and pencil lead. Full-bodied, rich and densely packed with perfumed black fruit layers, it has a rock-solid backbone of fantastically ripe, grainy tannins and beautiful freshness, finishing very long and minerally.
The wine has retained a cool climate high acidity, giving it a more compressed personality than I had envisioned. The color remains a dark ruby/garnet, but the nose has taken on a more vegetal, earthy note to go along with the new oak and sweet red and black currant personality.