Wine from France

Wine Enthusiast, 95 points: Here is a huge ripe and luxurious wine, with great power. The texture is solid, filled with firm tannins, the flavors are black and ripe. Along with the power, though, is much of the elegance and poise that characterizes...

View From The Cellar, 93 points: I was not travelling to Bordeaux back when the 1996s were first displayed, and my primary business at this time in the wine trade was not young claret, so I do not have anywhere near as much tasting experience with the...

Wine Spectator, 89 points: Beautifully balanced boasting lovely currant mineral and black cherry flavors medium to full body good complexity and well-integrated tannins. Should improve with age; try in 1999. -JS

Robert Parker's Wine Advocate, 93 points: One of the most beautiful wines of the vintage the dark ruby/purple-colored La Lagune exhibits sweet cassis camphor truffle and white chocolate notes presented in a dense medium to full-bodied silky textured personality...

Decanter, 97 points: 23 years old and yet one of the best wines in the vertical, this has real power and grip, still with a tannic buildup through the palate that's packed full of the Left Bank signatures: menthol, cassis, dark brambled...

Wine Enthusiast, 93 points: A powerfully ripe wine, with pure black currant flavors over soft, polished tannins. The wood balance is exemplary, offering just the right lift. Touches of cinnamon and vanilla give an extra dimension.

Robert Parker's Wine Advocate, 89 points: ...exhibits a deep ruby/purple color and a powerful nose of licorice black currants and spicy new oak. There is sweet fruit on the attack and medium body but the firm tannin gives the wine grip and delineation as well as...