Subdued on opening, but with 30 minutes in a carafe it spills out rich pencil lead and liquorice notes, with blackberry fruits and smoky vanilla spice. Classic Margaux 2006, with fairly high acidity that emphasises a...

Flowers, fresh churned earth, cherry pipe tobacco, cocoa and cigar box aromas are making their presence known. Still young, the wine is fresh, supple and tannic. While the wine demands time and the tannins are clearly...

Still tightly wound, although it resists much of the stern tannins found in many of the other 2006 Medoc wines, the wine offers the start of its secondary aromatics with its tobacco, cherry, plum, spice, smoke and forest...

More knitted down than the 2005, in the 2002, 2004 vein, with firm tannins, even if they are now melted and integrated, and a sense of control. Dark berry fruits with smoked earth, undergrowth, soot, powerful but subdued...

The 2006 Château Haut-Bailly is more forward and charming, but it's another seriously good wine. Dried flowers, currants, chocolate, sandalwood, cigar, and graphite all shine here, and it's one of those wines you could...

Deep garnet colored, the 2006 Ancient Way Vineyard Summer's Vineyard reveals a provocative mélange of kirsch, plum pudding and blackberry tart scents with Chinese five spice, aniseed and wood smoke suggestions...

Tightly knit, as you would expect at only 9 years age, this blend of 82% Cabernet Sauvignon, 16% Merlot, and 2% Petit Verdot starts off with an earthy, forest floor, cedar chest, smoke, tobacco and cedar wood nose. Full...

The 2006 Léoville Las Cases is muscular and uncompromising, unwinding to reveal aromas of dark berries, cassis, burning embers, espresso roast, exotic spices, loamy soil and toasty oak. Full-bodied, rich and extracted...

Great quality, classic but a little less generous at this point in its life than the 2005 that precedes it. Liqourice root, raspberry leaf, smoked earth, cassis, bilberry, all those tight smooth-skinned high-acidity...

Medium red. Pungent red berries, rose petal, gingerbread and musky underbrush on the nose, with a sappy suggestion of raspberry liqueur emerging with air. Silky and light on its feet, with penetrating red berry and spice...

A rather solar expression suffuses the complex nose mingling notes of prunes, spices, and forest floor. This is not the most structured wine of this tasting but it remains a textbook Pichon Baron, as it has the telltale...

Tight and unyielding at the moment, but with great pedigree, great texture and definition, this has lots of life to come. Poised and impactful, with juicy and mouthwatering fruit. Punches far above the weight of the...

The 2006 Grenache Raven Series (92% Grenache and 8% Syrah with 26% whole clusters) was aged in 43% new oak including both small barrels and demi-muids. It is a slightly smaller production (880 cases) than the 2005...

2006 Ravens Series (# 6 and 7 Grenache): This blend of 90% Grenache and 10% Syrah, largely from the 11 Confessions Vineyard, with a small amount from Bien Nacido, spent 21 months in barrel. It is really strutting its...