Wine Spectator: This has an old-school twinge, with bay leaf and alder notes leading the way for cassis bush, blackberry and tobacco flavors. There's lightly edgy grip, but this doesn't reall...

Robert Parker's Wine Advocate: A major sleeper of the vintage, this blend of equal parts Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot is another "best ever" performance. Notes of tobacco leaf, hot rocks, sweet kirsch and ...

Wine Spectator: A forward style, with dark cassis, blackberry and black cherry notes spiked with a hint of damson plum. Long and velvety through the finish, with hints of black tea and tobacc...

Jancis Robinson: Looking good! Very St-Estèphe but with the extra fruit of 2009. Lots of both fruit and structure. Smoothness of fruit concentration.

Wine Spectator: This expressive red delivers plum, blackberry, espresso and mineral flavors that drive through the palate, supported by firm, well-integrated tannins. Savory and toasty, with ...

Wine Spectator: This expressive red delivers floral, vanilla, red berry and licorice aromas and flavors that are bright and focused. Offers firm tannins and fresh acidity. Vivid and long, in ...

Wine Spectator: Nice cocoa and coffee aromas lead the way for roasted vanilla bean, dark plum and black cherry fruit notes. This is a touch firm, but racy and fleshy enough through the finish...

About this Wine: Land: A plateau of limestone; bordering slopes with chalk and clay soils....

Robert Parker's Wine Advocate: This blend of 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc coming in at 13.5% natural alcohol exhibits notes of blueberry pie intermixed with chalk dust, as well as hints of subtle oak, ...

Wine Spectator: Broad and fleshy, exhibiting lots of melted fig, black currant paste and graphite notes woven with maduro tobacco and bittersweet cocoa. There's a long, smoldering finish. Bes...

Wine Spectator: This solid red has a nice fleshy edge to its red and black currant fruit, laced with hints of coffee, maduro tobacco and iron. The finish firms up as the toast takes over. Dri...

Wine Spectator: A muscular, chunky style, with lots of iron-clad grip and streaks of roasted cedar running through the broad core of dark plum, black currant and fig sauce notes. This cuts a ...

About this Wine: Purchased in 1998 from the daughter of the local blacksmith - hence the name - the initial vineyard was primarily based on a gravel outcrop, assembled over the generations wit...

Stephen Tanzer's IWC: (a 65/35 blend of merlot and cabernet franc): Bright medium ruby. Blackberry, cassis, bitter chocolate and espresso on the nose, with cabernet franc notes of violet and lico...

About this Wine: This Single Vineyard wine is made from a single hectare on 'Astéries' (rock limestone) soil between Château Fonroque and Clos Fourtet. The vines survived the frost of 1956 and...

Wine Spectator: This is inviting, with delicious raspberry ganache, cherry reduction and sweet spice notes all pushed by racy licorice and toast. The slightly firm, muscular finish should str...

Robert Parker's Wine Advocate: Produced from yields of 20 hectoliters per hectare (14% natural alcohol), this 2008 reveals surprisingly high acids as well as a tart, repressed personality. Medium-bodied wit...

About this Wine: The vines of Secret de Cardinale are located on a 1.20 hectares plot bordering Château Fleur Cardinale. This wine is made in small quantities using the same growing and wine m...

Wine Spectator: A kiss of toast gives way to nicely firm flavors of tobacco, red currant and iron, which stay slightly taut through the finish. Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon. ...

Wine Spectator: This is dense and muscular, but balanced, with the flesh to offset the sinew, as pure mulled black currant, melted fig and crushed plum fruit is caressed by substantial but fi...