Croix Saint Martin
Château Ducru-Beaucaillou
Saint-Julien Red Bordeaux Blend 2005
The 2005 Ducru-Beaucaillou, tasted a dozen times since en primeur, was picked 21 September to 6 October, matured in 90% new oak for 18 months. It delivers a wall of black fruit on the nose that gradually opens up with aeration, touches of incense and wild mint, cedar coming through with time. But these aromatics remain very backward. The palate is medium-bodied with firm grippy tannins, fine acidity, solid and focused. Tremendously and uncompromisingly backward, this is a seriously fine Ducru-Beaucaillou that is just not yet ready, so go back to the cellar and leave it there for another five years. Tasted at the Ducru Beaucaillou vertical at the château. (Neal Martin, Vinous, July 2022)
— 3 years ago
Château Calon-Ségur
Saint-Estèphe Red Bordeaux Blend 2016
The 2016 Calon-Ségur has a very concentrated, multifaceted bouquet of blackberry, blueberry, cedar and wild mint. I adore this – so involving and so intoxicating! The palate is very well balanced with succulent tannins and a fine bead of acidity, full of tension and poise. Black cherry and blueberry emerge toward the satisfying, complete finish. A gorgeous Saint-Estèphe. Tasted blind at the Southwold tasting. (Neal Martin, Vinous, August 2020)
— 5 years ago
Domaine Michel Gros
Fontaine Saint Martin Monopole Hautes-Côtes de Nuits Chardonnay
Outstanding. Richer style, balanced with freshness and verve. — 6 years ago
Château Ausone
Saint Émilion Red Bordeaux Blend 2019
The 2019 Ausone has a perfumed nose with another Cabernet Franc-driven set of aromas, gravel and loam infusing the black fruit. Wonderful delineation. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannins, a beautifully sculpted wine with a killer line of acidity and immense precision on the finish. This just sashays along with style. Fabulous. Tasted blind at the Southwold annual tasting. (Neal Martin, Vinous, February 2023) — 2 years ago
Château Léoville Poyferré
Saint Julien Red Bordeaux Blend 2004
The 2004 Léoville-Poyferré has a light and airy bouquet with blackberry, antique bureau, forest floor and light fungal aromas. The palate is medium-bodied with slightly dry tannins, a little austere but balanced, though I notice some attenuation and bitterness towards the finish. So-so for this estate. Tasted at the Léoville-Poyferré vertical at the château with Sara Lecompte Cuvelier. (Neal Martin, Vinous, September 2022)
— 3 years ago
Château Montrose
Saint-Estèphe Cabernet Sauvignon Blend 2018
The 2018 Montrose delivers on the promise that it showed from barrel. I gave this a three-hour decant before broaching, since Montrose is always backward, albeit far less ferociously than even just a decade ago. It offers copious blackberry and blueberry scents on the nose, plus pressed violets and a light estuarine scent that becomes accentuated with time. The palate is medium-bodied with a silky-smooth texture. Finely chiseled tannins frame multilayered black fruit infused with crushed stone, and it has retained that subtle graphite element that lends it a Pauillac-like personality, though less so than out of barrel. This is a beautifully defined Montrose with entrancing symmetry, and it should drink earlier than other recent vintages thanks to a little more pliancy. (Neal Martin, Vinous, March 2021)
— 4 years ago
Bernard Magrez
Chateau La Croix De L'Espérance Lussac Saint-Emilion Merlot 2003
really good. choose the winemaker over the label! — 5 years ago
Château Canon
Saint-Émilion Red Bordeaux Blend 2015
The 2015 Canon has a tightly wound bouquet with mineral rich black fruit, raspberry coulis, rose
petal and desiccated orange peel. It takes time to come together, but it does. The palate is well defined, very focused with fine minerality. This is discreet but beautifully balanced, clean and precise with a sense of energy and precision on the finish. It is less showy than its peers at the moment, which
explains why I am more parsimonious with my score. Yet the potential is locked inside this wine and it will aspire toward perfection with a decade in bottle.Tasted blind at the Southwold 2015 Bordeaux tasting. (Neal Martin, Vinous, July 2019) — 6 years ago
Château Beauséjour
Héritiers Duffau-Lagarrosse Saint-Émilion Red Bordeaux Blend 2020
The 2020 Beauséjour Héritiers Duffau-Lagarrosse is aged in around 60% new oak and made by Nicolas Thienpont and Stéphane Derenoncourt; Joséphine Duffau tweaked the blend when she took over in April of the following year. This was bottled at the end of May 2022. It has a perfumed nose, predominantly red fruit, sous-bois and a subtle Japanese nori scent. Quite "contained" at the moment, I can see this shutting down. The palate is medium-bodied with fine-grain tannins, dark cherries, bilberry and hints of black pepper and black olive (the latter is accentuated in the chateau bottle). Nicely balanced and persistent, this Saint-Émilion should age with class. Tasted twice with consistent notes. (Neal Martin, Vinous, February 2023) — 2 years ago
Saint Croix Vineyards
Minnesota Reserve Marquette 2016
St. Croix vineyard MN. Art & Wine Festival. Very good. Taste vanilla. Cherry & blackberry — 6 years ago
Château Cap Saint-Martin
Premières Côtes de Blaye Red Bordeaux Blend 2015
Ligero de cuerpo — 6 years ago
Domaine La Croix Saint-Laurent
Sancerre Sauvignon Blanc
Crisp light well balanced citrus — 7 years ago
Delectable Wine
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Tasting the 1990 Léoville Las Cases just a few days after the 1989, it is clear which is the best vintage…this one. It has a sublime nose of melted black fruit, tar, cedar and bay leaf that shrugs off the heat of that summer better than most others. At 33 years of age, you could just lose yourself in these aromatics. The palate is clearly holding up well: beautifully defined and supple yet with typical Las-Cases backbone and depth. It builds magnificently in the glass toward a harmonious finish that reminds me of the 1985 in terms of its fleshiness. Wonderful. Tasted at the Lia's Wings/book dinner at Medlar restaurant. (Neal Martin, Vinous, December 2023)
— a year ago