"An amazing tour de force in winemaking, this massive, opaque black/purple-colored offering boasts an extraordinarily pure nose of black fruits intermixed with cedar, vanillin, fudge, and espresso. It is unctuously-textured, with exhilarating levels of blackberry/cassis fruit and extract, as well as multiple dimensions that unfold on the palate. The 50-second ... more

"An amazing wine, the 1996 La Mondotte (approximately 800 cases made from a 30-year old parcel of 100% Merlot planted on a hillside between Le Tertre-Roteboeuf and Canon La Gaffeliere) is a super-star. If readers cannot get excited by tasting the 1996, they should change beverages. It is amazing for ... more

From a 11.3-acre vineyard cropped at 25 hectoliters per hectare, this blend of 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Franc is a candidate for perfection. The 2000 La Mondotte has a saturated, inky purple color to the rim and a tight but enormously promising nose of blackberry and cassis liqueur intermixed ... more

Another brilliant effort from a small, 45-year-old vineyard on the clay and limestone plateau above Pavie and Pavie Decesse, this blend of 75% Merlot and 25% Cabernet Franc was cropped at 30 hectoliters per hectare. A classically structured St.-Emilion, it boasts an opaque purple color as well as a gorgeous ... more

This cuvee (from an 11+ acre vineyard planted on a clay and limestone plateau above Pavie-Decesse) performed better in January than they did last year. Minuscule yields of 15 hectoliters per hectare and bottling without fining or filtration after 24 months in new oak have resulted in an outstanding 2003 ... more