About this Wine: Low vineyard yield is maintained by ploughing the soil, de-leafing, and crop thinning. Grapes are picked and sorted by hand.

Alexandra Fondren: Medium garnet core fades to a brick rim. Though it takes some coaxing, with air the bouquet reveals dried plum and black cherry, along with tobacco, savory mushroom and roaste...

Wine Spectator: A solid, briary, grippy, tarry Pauillac, with a sappy edge to the kirsch, blackberry, plum skin and steeped fig notes, liberally laced with anise and tar. Shows good energy th...

Wine Spectator: Manages to harness the angularity of the vintage extremely well, almost burying the acidity in the core of cassis, black cherry skin, plum pit and maduro tobacco flavors. This...

Wine Spectator: Delivers a pure beam of cassis, raspberry and cherry, with lightly toasted spice notes and a firm plum skin edge holding sway on the finish. Stretched out somewhat already, th...

Wine Spectator: Rich and ripe wine. Dark red color with an amber edge. Loads of meat, berry and tobacco character on the nose. Very rich. Full-bodied, with soft, velvety tannins and a long, u...

Wine Spectator: Very pretty nose, with chocolate and raspberry and a touch of sweet tobacco. Medium-bodied, with silky tannins and a delicate fruit, light earth and chocolate aftertaste.-'88/...

Wine Spectator: Aromas of berries, tobacco and light earth. Medium-bodied, with velvety tannins and a medium finish. Lacks a bit of a center palate. Disappointing after the outstanding 2003. ...

Wine Spectator: Dark color, with decadent aromas of truffles, meat, ripe berries and tobacco. Turns to sweet, crushed berries. Full-bodied, with very polished tannins and a berry and mineral ...

Stephen Tanzer's IWC: Tasted in components: #1, Petite Cote: fresh red berries and flowers, with intense spiciness. Very bright and lively, with racy cherry and raspberry flavors and strong fini...

Wine Spectator: A prodigious effort, dark, rich and intense,remarkably youthful and vibrant, with penetrating chocolate, black cherry, violet, plum and currant flavors that are tightly focuse...

Wine Enthusiast: This chunky, fruity wine is full bodied and rich. It shows all the structure and weight of the vintage allied to ripe black fruits and a dense texture edged with minerality....

Wine Spectator: Dense, with good mouthfeel, offering notes of velvety, warm raspberry and boysenberry confiture. Kept lively by enticing spice, anise, bergamot and mandarin orange hints. The ...

Wine Spectator: This has aromatic range and depth of fruit, offering enticing dark currant, plum and blackberry notes that show lots of savory herb and racy chalk notes, with a long, gravelly...

Wine Spectator: Firm, slightly dusty-edged plum and cassis fruit here, with a good sappy feel on the finish. Underlying tarry edge. Solid, if a bit reticent today.-J.M.

Wine Spectator: An extrovert, with enticing plum, anise and blackberry fruit and a long, supple finish. There's plenty of stuffing and grip, but this is velvety and nicely assimilated, with p...

Wine Spectator: Clearly defined and well made, with violet, berry character and fine tannins. Not quite as good as from barrel. Drink now through 2000

Wine Spectator: Rich but delightfully pure, with a stunningly gorgeous, pure beam of unadulterated raspberry preserves driving through the middle, showing hints of plum, anise and blueberry h...

Robert Parker's Wine Advocate: The 2009 Corton-Cuvee de Bourdon is a freakish, dark wine endowed with loads of jammy fruit, white flowers, licorice and spices. It is a sumptuous, even extreme wine that is n...

Stephen Tanzer's IWC: Inky purple. Heady, explosive aromas of black raspberry and blueberry preserves, garrigue and incense, with smoky mineral and anise accents. Lush and palate-coating, offerin...