2011 Red Wine

Vinous, 93 points: (81% Cabernet Sauvignon): Very pure, lively aromas of blackberry, black cherry, licorice pastile, bitter chocolate and violet, accented by a peppery quality. Smooth, dry and classic but in a distinctly cooler style than...

Decanter, 94 points: Controlled power, gorgeous complexity – a really beautiful wine. The tannins feel fine, well expressed and well balanced, holding the fruit without strangling it, with a gorgeous touch of St-Julien flair and finesse. An...

Decanter, 99 points: The strongest wine in my selection, yet this magnificent Amarone’s alcohol is barely visible thanks to its astonishing depth, texture and sumptuousness. Pressed black fruits seep with fruit essences; smoke and cinders...

Wine Enthusiast, 96 points: So smooth, this is a rich, grandiose wine. Although it is full of black currant fruits and spice flavors, the texture is most impressive. Dusty tannins are integrated with juicy fruits seamlessly. The purest fruit flavors...

Wine Enthusiast, 96 points: (94-96). Barrel sample. Showing a judicious blend of new wood and ripe fruit, this is a wine that has a creamed-apple texture. It's full of bright grapefruit, sweet apple and green plum flavors.

Decanter, 94 points: Less celebrated than 2009 and 2010, and you can feel the fruit is a little less intense through the mid-palate. Heaped with blackberry and morello cherries, the fruit is carefully placed though, well balanced and with...

Robert Parker's Wine Advocate, 96 points: One of the stars of the vintage and coming from absurdly low yields of 18 hectoliters per hectare, the 2011 Chateauneuf du Pape is a full-bodied, seamless effort that exhibits copious kirsch, ground pepper, dried flowers...

Wine Enthusiast, 94 points: This is typical of the ripe and opulent style of this property with superripe black currant fruit. It's concentrated in flavor, but also structured with smooth tannins. It's a wine both for short-term fruitiness and...

Wine Enthusiast, 97 points: Big tannins and impressive fruits are the hallmarks of this impressive wine. It is also subtle, not showing all its flavors at once, hiding beneath tannins and structure. For this fruity vintage, it shows a strong sense...

Wine Enthusiast, 97 points: Big tannins and impressive fruits are the hallmarks of this impressive wine. It is also subtle, not showing all its flavors at once, hiding beneath tannins and structure. For this fruity vintage, it shows a strong sense...

Wine Enthusiast, 95 points: (WE93-95 points) A firm and tannic wine, it has the weight to support its tannins. It's balanced, solid and dense, with a powerful shot of black fruits.

jamessuckling.com, 95 points: Cubillo spends three years in barrique and then in larger cask to await bottling, which happens two years before the expected release. This is very fresh on the nose with quite fresh, ripe blackberries and dark cherries...

Burghound, 95 points: (BH92-95 points) A discreet hint of wood allows the slightly riper and definitely more sauvage aromas of earth, humus, dark berries and soft spice notes to shine. There is excellent power to the robust and...

Robert Parker's Wine Advocate, 95 points: Similarly styled to the Suis l'Etoile bottling, yet a completely different blend, the 2011 La Larme de L'Âme is 70% Syrah, 20% Carignan and 10% Grenache that saw 24 months in older demi-muid. It’s a massive wine that has...

jamessuckling.com, 97 points: This is very firm and dense with fantastic structure and a superb depth of fruit and silky tannins. Full body showing a core of ripe fruit featuring currants and blackberries. Minerals and fresh mushrooms to add. Better...

Jancis Robinson's Purple Pages, 90 points: This is the first vintage of Jacques Thienpont's new wine, over the border in St-Émilion. Eight hectares of 30-year-old vines, harvested three weeks later than at Le Pin. 80% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Franc. Spicy, ripe and...

Robert Parker's Wine Advocate, 92 points: (91-92) Scents of creme de cassis, chocolate, and nutmeg entice from the glass of Liger-Belair’s 2011 Moulin-a-Vent La Roche, though the torrefactive aspect here is no doubt prompted in large part by the wine’s low-sulfur...

jamessuckling.com, 93 points: Rich and decadent red with so much berry, meat and spice character. Aromatic, too. Full body, layered and chewy with plenty of beautiful fruit. Intense finish. Drink now or hold.

Wine Enthusiast, 97 points: (WE95-97 points) Barrel sample. Showing new wood spice, this rich and full-bodied wine also has weighty fruit, with creamy and herbaceous qualities.

Wine & Spirits, 95 points: Subtle scents of crushed herbs and rose petals gain intensity with air, as do the flavors in this elegant, red-fruited wine. Its berry and spice notes evolve into flavors of licorice and tarragon, taking on a tarry...

View From The Cellar, 95 points: 95+ As I noted in November, it was possible that I was underrating the wine a touch at the Salon de Gevrey tasting, as that sample was probably taken from a new barrel which would have been a bit more evolved in the...

Wine Spectator, 93 points: This red boasts cherry, strawberry, mint and earth flavors. Powerful, with breadth and density, this is long on the finish, yet backward and brooding for the vintage. Best from 2016 through 2024. – BS

Wine Enthusiast, 95 points: A solidly structured wine, it is both elegant and intensely powerful. It is disclosing its fruitiness slowly, at the moment dense and concentrated. A restrained edge provides complexity and balance. It will need aging, so...

Wine Enthusiast, 96 points: Beautifully balanced, this opens with alluring scents of wild berry, rose, baking spice and whiffs of chopped herb. Seamlessly combining ripe fruit and the firm's trademark finesse, the bright elegantly structured palate...

Wine Enthusiast, 93 points: This complex wine has rich tannins and layers of new wood atop dark black berries. At the same time, it is rounding out well, offering spice, sweet acidity and a terse freshness that is infectious. It's a very fruity wine...