Wine Spectator: Really big and rich, with lots of raw date, glazed pear, creamed peach and fig aromas and flavors. Very lush and long, but also clean and round despite its heft. -J.M.

About this Wine: The wine boasts the smoothness, velvet, depth and density of the 1995 vintage. The Vieux Château Certan has all the qualities required for laying down and magnificent agein...

Wine Spectator: Tightly wound, with a good chalky vibrancy and taut red currant, damson plum and bitter cherry notes that show ample length. Tasted non-blind.-J.M.

Wine Spectator: A rich, decidedly earthy style of Opus, showing currant, anise, black cherry, mineral, leather and sage flavors that are focused and complex...

Wine Spectator: Focused blackberry, currant and cherry sauce flavors show notes of sweet tobacco and nicely roasted spice on the finish, with integrated grip.-J.M.

Wine Spectator: A Pomerol of a different color, relying heavily on dense muscle and dark charcoal notes, with a core of fig, blackberry paste and blueberry reduction waiting in reserve. Very ...

Wine Spectator: Richly layered with gorgeous, focused currant, plum and blackberry fruit, shaded with touches of dusky spice and smoky notes from oak, but it's almost subliminal to the harmon...

Wine Spectator: An extremely well-sculpted, modern wine, with an enormous core of plum sauce, blackberry coulis and cassis fruit to match the ambitious roasted apple wood-, black tea- and tob...

Wine Spectator: Combines both silky texture and good tension, with a light chalky thread running through the middle of the almost plush plum and blackberry fruit. There's a bright cassis bush...

About this Wine: Its firm, well-rounded tannins offer a smoothness ever present over the years. Being highly concentrated, it can be left to age  for many years...

Wine Spectator: Dark and loamy, with fig bread and ganache out front, followed by steeped fig, pastis-soaked plum and Black Forest cake notes, all layered and backed by a long, licorice and g...

Wine Spectator: Very fresh, with a bold display of dark blueberry, loganberry and plum fruit aromas and flavors that push ahead, followed by singed spice, black licorice and toasty vanilla be...

Wine Spectator: Beautifully defined, ripe, rich fruit, with tight, sharply focused, deeply concentrated currant, black cherry, plum and wild berry, picking up complex anise, pencil lead and c...

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: 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 Spectator: Not shy at all, with a flamboyant, aromatic profile of roasted apple wood and warm ganache, featuring more than enough stuffing in the form of thickly layered blackberry paste...

Stephen Tanzer's IWC: (70% mourvedre and 10% each of grenache, counoise and syrah, all raised in foudre): Glass-staining purple. Hypnotic bouquet of black and blue fruits, potpourri and exotic sp...

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...

About this Wine: " Lynch-Bages made primarily from Cabernet-Sauvignon, is famous for its fine bouquet and rich tannin, which becomes soft and delicious with age. Lynch-Bages is powerful with a...

Wine Spectator: Packed with bright flavors, raspberry and red plum dominating, with great length and sweet tannins to suggest a long life. Harmonious and elegant beneath focused power.--Penfo...