If you are a fan of L'Evangile and Pomerol, and of course, the disposable income, you cannot have enough of this magical elixir. This is bottled hedonism at its best. Opulent, expressive, aromatic, and sensuous, the wine offers layers of seductively-textured fruit, silky tannins, and a creamy, luxurious finish packed with truffles and layers of chocolate-coated plums and black cherries that seemingly do not want to quit. And this is just getting started, with its best days starting maybe5 years from now. Drink from 2023-2050.

An astonishing effort from the Rothschild family the 2009 l'Evangile may be the reference point offering from this estate for decades to come. A blend of 95% Merlot and 5% Cabernet Franc aged in 100% new oak with 15% natural alcohol it exhibits a sumptuous bouquet of caramels black raspberry liqueur blackberries violets graphite and truffles. Thick viscous flavors are reminiscent of such super-ripe vintages as 1982 1959 1949 and 1947. The striking aromatics massive full-bodied mouthfeel and multilayered palate that resembles a skyscraper in the mouth offer an abject lesson in great winemaking extraordinary terroir and the ability to combine power with precision elegance and freshness. This is unquestionably a huge wine but it also possesses mindboggling complexity and finesse. Because of its sheer extract and velvety personality it will be drinkable in 4-5 years and will keep for four decades or more where well-stored. The most profound L'Evangile ever made?

The purity of fruit in this is spellbinding now with blackberry and blueberry as well as violet undertones. Focused on intense yet subtle fruit. Full body, very tight yet textured and sexy. Ultra-fine tannins. The aftertaste of light chocolate and burnt orange peel is always subtle and bright. Needs at least another five or six years to open but already a joy to taste.

95% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Franc. A vintage that managed to tick all the boxes set down by the Bordeaux oenology school for great years, even though it was a little too warm for true balance in some estates. Not here though, with flavours concentrated but not overly so. This has softened just slightly over the years, still showing an exotic, dark, spicy character and intense black fruits. Just getting going, but don’t feel the slightest urgency to open any bottles that you’re lucky enough to have. The tannins are still very present, even if they are like silk.

This takes a broader approach with almost stolid tobacco and charcoal structure guarding the core of black currant roasted fig and blackberry confiture flavors. Long and very fleshy offering ample toast and searing singed iron notes but terrific integration. Merlot in Cabernet clothing with a long life ahead. Best from 2018 through 2035. -JM

Smoky, grilled black cherry, enticing and confident, with ripened blackberry and raspberry fruits, pomegranate, cherry pit, white peach, sage and fennel, wrapped up in waves of smoked earth and cocoa bean. An exuberant vintage of L'Evangile, deceptively open, but will continue to age.

Deep inky-ruby. A fresh violet topnote lifts and complicates aromas of dark plum and cassis on the enticing nose. Quite pure in the mouth with mineral-driven flavors of dark berries creamy milk chocolate and smoky plum. Lively framing acidity extends the wine's flavors impressively through a long finish. This has lost some baby fat but picked up more gracefulness since I tried it in the spring of 2010.