This blockbuster wine possesses a profound nose. It exhibits awesomely ripe red and black fruits raw meat and Asian spices all of which are encased in sweet toasty oak. This full-bodied wide thick focused harmonious and intense wine releases amazingly powerful layers of candied black cherries and blackberries. It is structured totally precise pure and possesses an exceptionally long finish loaded with abundant sweet tannins. It will require patience. Anticipated maturity: 2005-2020.

Fantastically pure with the classic spice box hoisin and soy nose followed by big rich very structured flavors that display notes of earth leather and tea. The tannins are big ripe and are completely buffered by the sap with length that is simply phenomenal. This remains completely primary in character and seems not to have budged at all since it was bottled. A genuinely great vintage for La Tâche that is softer in the mouth than the '96 Grands Ech and this should improve for another decade and last for 50 years. Very classy juice. Note: while it's happened only twice the '96 can be intensely vegetal on the nose and not exhibit the purity that the wine is justifiably famous for; however I have tasted so many outstanding bottles of the '96 LT that I view these two examples as outliers.

It has been a couple of years since I last crossed paths with the 1996 La Tâche, but the wine was showing enormous potential when I last had the pleasure to taste it. The bouquet is deep, pure and still quite primary in its mélange of red plums, black cherries, Vosne spices, duck, a beautifully complex base of minerality, woodsmoke, a bit of cocoa and vanillin oak. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and very tangy, with a rock solid core, a fine sense of focus and balance, ripe, well-integrated tannins and a long, youthful and vibrant finish. All this vintage of La Tâche needs is more time in the cellar.

Deep color. Very pure fruit confit aromas of cassis and blackberry. A rich La Tâche with a combination of ripeness and high acidity. It's up front in its appeal today with a great nose and tight finish.--La Tâche non-blind vertical. Best from 2015 through 2040. -BS