2002 Red Wine

Wine Spectator, 93 points: ...toasty vanilla bean oak and a tasty core of ripe currant black cherry and wild berry. A burst of ripe fruit and seductive oak return on the finish...

Robert Parker's Wine Advocate, 92 points: Even better from bottle than from cask, and one of the finest wines of the vintage, this dense purple-colored 2002 reveals wonderfully sweet notes of charcoal, fresh mushrooms, smoke, earth, leather, cassis, and cedar...

Wine Spectator, 92 points: Fantastic aromas of black licorice and sweet tobacco change to raspberries and follow through to a full-bodied palate with lovely silky tannins and a long caressing finish. Multilayered. A beauty. Best after 2008. 3330...

Wine Spectator, 90 points: Plum and berry aromas with just hints of spices, fine tannins and a lovely silky finish. Not a big wine but refined and subtle. Lovely length. Consistently outstanding. Best after 2008. –JS

Robert Parker's Wine Advocate, 92 points: A candidate for the top second wine from the first-growth chateaux is the 2002 Forts de Latour. It exhibits an inky purple color as well as big concentrated sweet aromas of cassis and cherry fruit spice box and cedar...

Wine Spectator, 91 points: Bold and rich but restrained. Tightly wound now but manages to push a load of dense blackberry and currant flavors across the palate. Framed by a judicious use of vanilla-laced oak. Tannins are firm yet integrated. Give...

Wine Spectator, 94 points: Slightly firm at first but then almost gushes with pure silky raspberry fruit followed by notes of iron tobacco and semisweet chocolate. Beautifully done. Drink now through 2021. 665 cases made. -JM

Wine Spectator, 93 points: Complex aromas of blackberries tobacco and cedar follow through to a full-bodied palate with ripe velvety tannins and a long caressing finish. Very beautiful. Best after 2009. -JS

Antonio Galloni's Vinous, 93 points: Good deep red. Expressive, evolving aromas of raspberry, mocha, spices and balsamic cedar and earth. Sweet, creamy and concentrated, offering a seamless texture to its captivating flavors of cassis, spices and smoky...