Andrew Cullimore

9.7

Quite a young looking colour , ruby core still with garnet rim. Lovely expressive nose . Ripe blackberry , Asian spice, licorice , leather lots of complexity . On the palate rich and rewarding , sweet tannins and balancing acidity . Lovely ripe fruit , real length also , goes on and on. Lovely wine . — 9 years ago

LM Segal

9.3

Dusty sour cherry and cocoa nose on a beautiful dark cherry, sour plum and dark chocolate core. Long, fine tannins. One of 2 bottles was off but the "on" one more than made up for it! Not one of those super-long-term Flacc's, but quite yummy, very much a food wine. — 10 years ago

with Mark, Joe and 1 other

Tom Kobylarz

9.5

Regrettably the one Bodega I missed from a stomach bug on my trip last week, though I still love love you Spain and look forward to going back. Now back to the wine....
A beautiful ruby core with some orange and pink at the edges.
The nose is elegantly fruited, with dry flowers, cherry and American oak notes of coconut, dill and toast.
The palate is elegant, refined, while masterfully complex and persistent at the same time. The finish is long and crazy silky. One of the few GR from a very older producer that uses only proprietary fruit.

— 11 years ago

Dimitri Fedotov, C.S.

Sommelier Osteria 177

9.2

Gorgeous. Complex. Nice tannin trap at the end. — 9 years ago

George Chen

9.1

A little bready now but still sweet core and melted tannins. Cork was dry though but wine seemed fine. — 10 years ago

Mike Blom

9.0

1982 wasn't rated highly as a vintage but this 5.0 liter shows great producers can still provide a solid wine.

Red rim and deep red core. Violets and red currants. Toffee, leather, coco bean in the initial flavors. Enough acidity to keep the finish lively. — 11 years ago

Dario Scimeca

9.2

This is in a great drinking window. A little funk on the nose that blew off and revealed a dense core of blue fruit and smoothed out tannins. — 12 years ago

with Heather

Greg Ballington

Co-Founder of Millennial Drinkers Wine Blog

9.3

Super fun wine to get us ready for the Bordeaux Masters Class this afternoon.

Medium garnet core with bricking in the edges. Layered nose with some definite bret, not off putting at all. Notes of barnyard, leather and dried red cherries. Well integrated and balanced. Moderate tannins (6/10) and medium bodied. Very rustic on the palate with some dried red cherries, forest floor and cedar. Long finish. Enough finesse to go another year or two but why wait, drinking well right now. Drink till 2019. — 9 years ago

with Sean and India

LM Segal

9.4

Great breeding trumps a below-average vintage. Blind, the nose alone gives away the DNA of this phenomenal wine. This Merlot-dominated Cheval has a beautiful core of cocoa powder, prune and plums. Structure from sweet oak and cab franc skins come through on the finish. Excellent, but a world away from the 2000 that's a palate-reference for me. Don't wait on this one, this well-stored bottle felt past its apex. — 11 years ago

Neil Johnston

9.0

Nice big balance of berries, earth and velvet finish. — 12 years ago