Erik Nordman

9.4

First time trying one of the Tempier reds. Damn, this is some towering, dense wine. Perfectly balanced though. Intense concentration without any overripeness or hyperextraction. Even this, the entry-level cuvée, obviously has the stuffing to age for a while. However, it's surprisingly giving now with expressive aromatics and layers of flavor. Nose of ripe strawberry and blackberry, fresh thyme, an almost smoky, arid, gravelly soil character, rich tobacco leaf, licorice root, a slight gameyness, and a slightly volatile, balsamic character. Palate is equally dense and ripe, but still has some lift to keep it from being quickly fatiguing. More ripe strawberry and raspberry, thyme herbaceousness, smoky gravel earth, tobacco, savory gaminess, and slightly volatile balsamic character. Medium (+) acid, medium (+) to high intensity incredibly fine-grained tannin, medium to medium (+) body. Begs to be joined by a rich lamb or beef dish to stand up to it. I'm gonna get another bottle of this and not touch it for quite a while because there's still so much room to unfurl and smooth out, even with it being as good as it is now because it's just almost too intense right now. Will be an amazing wine at maturity. — 8 years ago

with Cassie

Scott Taddeo

9.1

2005- a wine that's just moved into its older age. Dark fruits, dried fruits also, shellac, vanilla bourbon and damp earth. Beautifully integration on the palate, in a good place now. — 9 years ago

Reilly Brock

9.4

Awesome! Everything I love about VT and CDP. Earth and fruit in perfect balance. — 10 years ago

Jonathan Pytko

10

Education wine, awesome earth and acid. Still has time in the bottle — 8 years ago

with Andrew

Alex Xu

9.7

Incredible. Jaboulet family apparently inconsistent in final years of ownership, but this one had everything. So dense still, with lots of kalamata olive, olive brine, cherry, blackberry, black pepper, leather, cured meat, earth. Savory, sweet, powerful, elegant, hit every end of the taste spectrum. Super long. In magnum — 8 years ago

Joe Paradise

9.1

One of, if not my favorite, rioja producers. Fruit on the 03 is a bit crisper than other vintages. Cranberry, tomato (leaf?), deftly deliberate oxidation, earth and savory balsamic, all framed in lovely oak. Fine integrated tannin. Long savory finish — 10 years ago

Paul Ricciardi

9.6

Very old world style Pinot. Lots of fruit and earth. Extremely complex yet soft and easy to drink. — 11 years ago

Peter Wassam

9.8

A softened ruby color. Beautiful balance, everything in harmony. Wet earth, raspberry, cinnamon, a whiff of truffle, intoxicating nose. So much ripe, fresh red fruit on the palate. Such soft tannins, damson plum, a mineral streak running through. Drinking a 15 year old wine for 15th anniversary of diabetes. This is splendid in the moment — 8 years ago

Alder Yarrow

Wine Blogger Vinography

9.4

Cloudy ruby, this wine smells of earth and cedar and dried red fruits. In the mouth, dried flowers and forest floor mix with river-mud-tannins and a bright juicy acidity. Tasted out of magnum. — 9 years ago

Ira Schwartz

9.4

An earth driven nose with overtones of garrigue. This wine was terroir driven vs fruit driven. Compared to the other vintages I found this wine benefited the least from air. — 10 years ago