Robert Parker's Wine Advocate: This biodynamically farmed vineyard owned by Alain Moueix has turned out an attractive, deep plum/ruby-hued 2011 offering dusty, earthy notes intermixed with hints of tobacco ...

Wine Spectator: This is lovely, with floral notes at first, which are then followed by pure, precise blueberry, plum and blackberry fruit aromas and flavors. Features a silky texture, fine ac...

Wine Spectator: On the taut side, with perky acidity and a strong chalky frame to the vivid cassis and blackberry notes. Rather tight now, but with solid concentration-if the acidity doesn't ...

Wine Spectator: Youthfully raw, with dark plum, currant and blackberry fruit still settling in, along with roasted tobacco and dark fig-bread notes. Nice bass note already. Will the treble fi...

Robert Parker's Wine Advocate: The plush, opulent, medium to full-bodied, opaque ruby/purple-hued 2011 Haut-Brisson reveals copious notes of sweet strawberries and black cherries intermixed with dusty, loam...

James Suckling: Very powerful and muscular. Full and tannic. Lots of horsepower. Ager. Mega.

Chuck Hayward: Sourced from a collection of vineyard parcels owned by garagiste "bad boy" Jean-Luc Thunevin, 3 de Valandraud is the third wine of Chateau Valandraud. Plantings are 75% merlot...

Wine Spectator: Velvety, modern style, with crushed blueberry and plum fruit and lots of sweet tobacco lacing up the finish. Ripe and showy, but not overdone.-J.M.

About this Wine: "Monbousquet is a blend of 60% Merlot, 30% Cabernet Franc and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon. The grapes are fermented in temperature-controlled, stainless steel tanks and the wine is...

Wine Spectator: A chalky spine is buried nicely in the core of cherry, currant and plum fruit. Nice singed tobacco leaf leaves a mouthwatering feel on the finish. Solid.-J.M.

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

Wine Spectator: Dark in profile, with a strong cocoa frame to the blackberry and fig notes. Polished in texture, but more heft than purity in the end.-J.M.

Wine Spectator: This has forward plum and cherry notes with a veneer of licorice and mocha. A touch loose on the finish.-J.M.

Wine Spectator: Ripe, slightly hefty style, with plum skin and macerated cherry and currant fruit backed by a well-toasted finish. Verges on over-extracted but has enough lift to keep it hone...

Robert Parker's Wine Advocate: This 33-acre vineyard sits atop the Fronsac plateau, and the final blend at Dalem tends to be around 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc. Made under the administration of the gr...

Wine Spectator: Offers linzer torte and boysenberry fruit allied to a focused, rather racy spine of graphite, with good buried acidity. This has room to stretch out more.-J.M.

Devon Magee: 100% merlot. This 4.5 hectare vineyard is comprised mostly of sand and gravel soils, with an average vine age of 50 years. Notes of violet, blackberry, blackberry leaf, and bl...

James Suckling: Some attractive ripe fruit with mineral and dried flowers. A little reductive now. Medium to full body, with silky tannins and an attractive finish. Very good for the appellat...