Wine Spectator: Solidly built, with a roasted edge to the steeped fig, blackberry and black currant flavors, quickly followed by brambly tannins and notes of bay leaf and espresso. Stays dark...

Wine Spectator: Dark but racy, with chocolate-covered raspberry and blackberry fruit carried by graphite and toasty cinnamon, black tea and anise flavors. Firms up on the finish, with a lovel...

Wine Enthusiast: For anybody looking for classic Bordeaux, this is the bottle to seek. "Classic" here means a wine with a tannic structure that also relies on a black currant flavor, with acid...

Wine Spectator: Very polished and stylish, with a velvety feel to the layers of crushed plum, currant and blackberry, while bittersweet cocoa and black licorice glide in on the gorgeous, blac...

Wine Spectator: This has good ripe plum and black cherry fruit woven with a currant eau-de-vie aroma. There's fine-grained structure and an easy, vanilla-tinged finish. Not as dense as the to...

Wine Spectator: Wonderfully complex on the nose, with licorice, spice, berry and tobacco character. Medium-bodied, with fine tannins and a delicious finish...

Wine Spectator: Ultraconcentrated, with layers and layers of fruit and superfine tannins. Plenty of fruit, mineral and meat character. Full-bodied yet refined and classy, it coats your palate...

Wine Spectator: Complex aromas of crushed berries, cedar, mahogany and sweet tobacco follow through to a full body, with velvety tannins and a long finish. There's also lots of coffee. Balanc...

Wine Spectator: This has solid range, with blueberry, loganberry and bergamot notes mixed together and framed by anise-infused toast. There's solid flesh through the finish, with lingering pu...

Wine Spectator: This has a richness that stands out for 2011, delivering roasted fig and plum flavors, with good smoldering tobacco and black tea notes, before the tangy damson plum and iron ...

Wine Enthusiast: A deliciously-perfumed wine, with a dark and intense tannic structure. It is spiced and concentrated, with a plum character and great richness on the finish.

Wine Spectator: Features a gutsy feel, displaying dark, roasted cedar and tobacco notes framing a core of steeped fig, blackberry paste and plum skin that rumbles through the tarry finish. Sh...

Wine Spectator: Complex aromas of tobacco, cedar, berry and currants. Full-bodied, with a solid core of fruit and ripe tannins.

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: Amazing aromas of crushed blackberries, toasted oak and currant, spices. Really a great nose. Full-bodied, with round and velvety tannins and a long, long finish. It lasts for...

Wine Spectator: The nose is marked by caramel, plum and macerated fruits, with more bass than the 1996. On the palate the fruit has a slightly candied quality, but its very concentrated. A bi...

Wine Spectator: All in harmony. Deserves its reputation. Dark ruby. Smoke, black truffle, berry and cherry. Full-bodied, velvety and fine.--Bordeaux retrospective. Best after 2005. (JS)

Wine Enthusiast: A wine that has density, structure and firm tannins, with touches of wood. At this stage, it is solid and impressive; and the tannins draw the great fresh fruit into the heart...

Wine Spectator: Features substantial but very velvety structure running from start to finish, delivering a muscular feel for now. The hard edges are fully absorbed by the core of plum sauce, ...

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...