Wine Spectator: Pure violets, minerals and blackberries on the nose. Full-bodied, chewy and powerful. Still holding back a lot. This wine needs to break its chains. Give it time.--'95/'96 Bor...

Wine Spectator: Outstanding, but slightly unimpressive. Dark red color. Complex aromas of blackberries, dark chocolate, tar and minerals. Medium- to full-bodied and balanced, with fine tannin...

Wine Spectator: Blackberry, cherry and currant with just a hint of toasted oak. Full-bodied, with silky tannins and a lovely combination of ripe fruit and vanilla character. Goes on and on. L...

Wine Spectator: Gorgeous aromas of berry, currant and exotic spices, especially cinnamon. Medium- to full-bodied, with layers of silky tannins and ripe berry and raspberry on the palate. An o...

Wine Spectator: This is beautiful on the nose with currants, berries and flowers. Full-bodied, with silky tannins and pretty fruit. Needs a bit more fruit on the midpalate to be a classic Mar...

About this Wine: This muscular wine has phenomenal density, dry vintage port-like concentration, and magnificent notes of smoke, blackberries, cassis, leather and coffee.

Wine Spectator: Dark in profile and rather stolid, with a beam of currant, plum and fig allied to a prominent iron shaft that clamps down on the charcoal-textured finish. Showing rather auste...

Robert Parker's Wine Advocate: Sexy creme de cassis notes along with a big kiss of cedar wood, spice box and licorice are all present in this dense, ruby/purple-colored wine, which is lush and silky smooth,...

Wine Spectator: Juicy and direct, with a relatively friendly feel to the plum, blackberry and blueberry fruit, all coated with a ganache note that hangs through the finish. Surprisingly acces...

Wine Spectator: A very fine '96, but what else would you expect from Cheval-Blanc? Medium- to full-bodied, with a good deep-ruby color, this has aromas of freshly crushed blackberry, fine tan...

Stephen Tanzer's IWC: Good deep ruby-red. Blackcurrant, minerals, graphite, mocha and leather on the nose. Sweet and tightly wound, with a violet topnote and terrific depth of flavor. This powerful...

Wine Spectator: Delivers sweet tobacco and plum aromas, with a lovely richness. Full-bodied, featuring lots of cedar, tobacco, chocolate and berry character. Long and silky in the palate. The...

Wine Spectator: Gorgeous kirsch and mocha aromas lead the way for this silky, alluring version, loaded with raspberry ganache, fruitcake, melted red licorice and graphite notes. The long, sil...

Wine Spectator: This sports a dark, chewy side for now, with overt charcoal and roasted apple wood notes, along with plenty of smoldering tobacco flavors. The core is still a bit chunky as we...

Wine Spectator: Hedonist alert-dense, fleshy layers of fig sauce, warm cocoa, dark currant confiture and exotic spice fill this red, which also shows plenty of grip, with a smoldering wood no...

Wine Spectator: An elegant wine, with a lovely balance of blackberry and tobacco flavors and soft, silky tannins. Not a blockbuster, but well proportioned. Best after 1996. -JS

Wine Spectator: This is rich and very plush, but really pure as well, with gorgeous macerated cherry, cassis and blackberry preserves flavors gliding along, carried by remarkably polished tan...

Wine Enthusiast: A beautifully structured wine that is both ripe and elegant. It is bolstered by tannins, the acidity a great cutting edge. The black currant fruits are already delicious, alth...

Wine Spectator: Aromas of licorice, tar and mineral follow through to a full-bodied palate, with silky tannins and a medium finish. A very pretty wine already. Falls a little short, but still...

Wine Spectator: Massive and concentrated, if a bit angular and tightly wound, with chewy, chunky leather, pencil lead, currant and herbal flavors that are framed by rugged tannins. Needs time...