Wine Enthusiast: A ripe and spicy wine, with crisp fruit. The wine has an attractive fruitiness, and its tannins are not aggressive. This shows great final acidity.

Wine Spectator: Kirsch and dark plum fruit is succulent, and offset nicely by brisk, chalky minerality, which gives a good driven feel to the finish.-J.M.

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 Enthusiast: Packed with dense tannins and firm fruit, this is a big, powerful wine. It is initially austere, but with time it becomes more rounded, with layers of wood tannins and rich fr...

Wine Spectator: This has nice ripeness, with cassis and blackberry paste flavors allied to sweet tobacco and roasted spice. Has a plump, weighty feel, but good focus, too.-J.M.

Wine Spectator: Still quite primal, with fleshy plum skin, warm raspberry confiture and dark roasted woodspice notes still wrestling a bit with each other. A bit thick on the finish as this s...

About this Wine: Merlot flourishes here, rather than the Cabernet, thanks to Soil rich in clay, and Jeremy manipulates the grape in order to deliver wines that are "succulent, never over-extra...

Stephen Tanzer's IWC: Good full, deep red. Aromatically pure nose offers scents of black cherry, blackcurrant, spices and minerals. Sweet, dense and suave if currently a bit youthfully withdrawn,...

Wine Spectator: This is a step ahead of the pack, with concentration but gentle texture to the plum, cassis and linzer torte flavors, which are inlaid with black tea and singed fennel seed no...

Wine Enthusiast: This wine is big, dense and impressive with plenty of concentration as well as acidity. It is balanced, bringing the big, ripe black-fruit flavor and firm tannins together wit...

Wine Spectator: Lilac and violet aromas quickly give way to dark toasted spice and black tea notes, followed by remarkably creamy-textured cassis and plum compote flavors, all offset beautifu...

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: Good, pure, caressing style, with a direct beam of cassis, lilac and toasted spice that stays rounded through the medium-weight finish, where a hint of loam peeks in. -J.M.

Wine Spectator: Reticent now, with a red fruit profile of currant and cherry that wait in reserve as the lightly firm toast holds sway. Pretty floral edge arrives on the finish, and the mouth...

Robert Parker's Wine Advocate: Gros is a notorious late harvester and naturalist, and his 2011 La Fleur Morange Mathilde (100% Merlot) is bottled early in order to give consumers a joyous, fruit-driven, hed...

John Sweeney: 92% merlot and 8% cabernet franc. Situated in Lugon, near Fronsac; owned by the dynamic Jean-Philippe Janoueix (of La Confession and La Croix St. Georges). A 55-hectare proper...

Wine Spectator: This has overt spiced toast, anise and mocha notes to soak up, but there's a good core of black cherry and blueberry fruit that should be up to the task. Slightly rustic cedar...

Wine Spectator: This has concentration and power for the vintage, with cassis and linzer torte notes laced with a racy iron edge. Nice flash of anise on the finish. Has some wood to soak up, ...

Stephen Tanzer's IWC: Bright, pale yellow. Pure, vibrant grapefruit aroma sexed up by nuances of green fig, gooseberry and hazelnut. Densely packed and pure, with lovely fresh acidity framing the...