One of these things is not like the others....





94-90-NV-88-98

Trip Report- Robert Parker led tasting of 1995 Bordeaux, Chicago Illinois, April 1998.

You'll forgive me if the details are sketchy!

About 100 people or so, perhaps 150 pay maybe $200 each to attend this tasting. I go with my best wine buddy-- his wife drops us off and will pick us up when we send up a flare.

We are seated in rows with solid 2-3 oz pours of all 5 first growths, as well as several 2nd growths-- perhaps a dozen glasses in all. In the corner of the room the staff has opened all the bottles. There are cases of Latour, Lafite, Margaux, etc. The bottles have been opened and in many cases only a glass or two has been poured out of them. My buddy and I eye this corner carefully.

RMP then takes us on a tour of all the wines in front of us. 1995 was a remarkable vintage. Not as powerful and long-lasting as 89 or 90 and not as austere as 96, but it was definitely kick-ass at the time. RMP has us look, smell, swirl, smell some more, taste. Of course, there are buckets to dispose of the wine but this seems a crime against nature. We snarf.

As the wines are consumed we look around and notice half-full glasses of first-growth 1995 Bordeaux all around us. Who are these idiots who showed up here to have a "no thank you" helping and spit??? As the crowd is dispersed into the next hall for appetizers and other lesser wines we hang back to see what will happen in the main room. Tipsy now, we consider simply sucking back all the unconsumed juice that our fellow wine-geeks (or wannabe ones) left behind. We're both physicians, and despite the fact that its $300/bottle stuff we aren't drunk enough to share glasses with total strangers. So be it. A better plan presents itself.

We walk towards the corner where the half-full bottles are. They are unguarded. Hmmmm. There are at least a dozen of each wine we've tasted and there are at least 2-3 glasses in each. Full pours mind you! Wow. We have hit the jackpot. A couple more daring than us goes first, steps up to the table, grabs two bottles and heads back to their seats. My friend and I share a mischievous glance. We approach, find the Margaux, Latour, Chevel Blanc, and Lafite. Two fisted each we proceed back to our seats and SNARF. Yes, its infanticide, but we are only the mop up crew. The wines are amazing. We had purchased Mouton on futures at $100 a bottle, but we are both still in training and on our fellowship salaries the $300 Margaux is beyond us. But not this night.

Having consumed more than our fill we find a couple right bank gems- L'eglise Clinet perhaps-- as well as something completely pedestrian like a Lynch Bages or Grand Puy Lacoste. Frankly I can't remember. We call our driver, show her our purple tongues and the bottles we've brought for the road.

I imagine I slept well that night.

It was one of a kind, and not likely to be matched in this life or the next.

Cheers.

Awesome.

thats a pretty sweet lineup. awesome trip report too

i'm looking for cheap ($20) recs for good french wine. i've tried nearly all the french wines at my local grocery stores ( i live in ohio if that helps). some that i like:

'07 louis jadot beaujoulais-villages
pretty much all of the "chateau [I]x[I]" bordeaux wines

That's a pretty broad request, but.... when I think value in French wines, I think Cotes du Rhone or the Languedoc. 2007 was a very good vintage in the Rhone so there should be a lot of good Cotes du Rhone appearing. All of them will benefit a lot from a long decant. The Languedoc produces an enormous amount of wine, most of which is cheap swill. However, since the region doesn't have the brand power and reputation of the more well known regions, you can pick up some very good wine in the 15-20 range. I don't have any specific recommendations though.

Your best bet for under $20 would be cotes du rhone. Like the other previous poster said 2007 was a great year. A couple cheap recs. to try to see if you like is

-2007 Domaine La Garrigue Cotes du Rhone Cuvee Romaine ($14-$15)
- 2007 Delas Côtes-du-Rhône ($10)

Both good wines for the price....but finding the might be hard, easier to get them online. I'm in ohio, what grocery store have you been buying from?

is your local grocery store jungle jim's? If it isn't, then there is a lot to taste and I don't normally do single rec's to people w/o knowing the inventory at a nearby store (if you have any links for wine stores near you then we have something to work with)

The benefit for you is that being in ohio that you can have wine shipped to you from other stores around the country.




as far as general rec's, I agree with what ChrisV said, Cotes du Rhone and the Langeudoc should be your go to regions for consistent value. There is also some good stuff coming from cahors and other southwest french regions that are worth checking out


^this is exactly the problem with giving specific recs IMO. I know for a fact that the Garrigue Romaine has been out of stock in the chicago market for over a year now, and it has been like that in a lot of other big markets around the country. Its a great wine if one can find it, but they've already moved onto the 08 and that should be hitting shelves soon itself

i live in NE ohio, so giant eagle or acme for me. the acme by my apt. is a liquor store as well, so they tend to have good beer/wine selection.

Was looking for Barolo but bought Barbaresco instead.(Barbaresco Sori' Paitin 2004) How similiar are they ?

similar grape, different underneath rock, climate, exposures, etc. Which basically means that they are quite different

generally barolos will have greater depth and expression of the grape, as well as higher acidity and tannin. Barbarescos will mature sooner(on the whole, there are some very different examples that age very well) and offer a slightly cooler expression of nebbiolo

just be sure that when you drink it, decant it first for 2-3 hours and drink it out of a glass like this:

Thanx, do you work in a wine related profession? The amount of knowledge you have are deep.

Does the shape of a glass make a lot of difference ? And what kind wines need decanting ?

Do you have any recommendation for red wine $ 40 ~ 60 range ? ( willing to spend up to $100 if it's really really good. ) I live in Canada.

My personal favorite so far is Amarone, which is why I wanted to try another Italian wine. A friend of mine highly recommended Chambolle Musigny. I tried it but wasn't very impressed. I guess my taste is not developed enough to appreicate it yet.

The shape of the glass definitely makes a big difference. If you do in fact buy a barolo, you are going to need to decant it for a good 2-3 hours before you drink it. Also, while I do think that you should try a barolo, it is soooo completely different than amarone, and most barolo that you will find at your store is going to be too young to drink. If you insist on sticking with Italian wines, I'd go with some sort of super tuscan (usually a sangiovese/cabernet blend). There are also few Brunellos that drink pretty well young that you may have some luck with but they tend to be a little more $ than what you are looking to spend. Are you in the US or Canada?

Also, if you are willing to venture outside of italy, I suspect you may like some Rhone wines. You may want to check out some of the JL Chave/M Chapoutier's more affordable options (i.e. St-Josesph) or check out some Chateauneuf de Pape (Domaine Pegau, vieux telegraphe, beaucastel). These wines will also require some decanting assuming they are fairly young.

I live in Canada, which makes wine drinking more expensive and difficult hobby.

Im certainly willing to venture outside Italian wines. What do you think of Chile wines ? I tried Montes Alpha Carbnet , it was pretty solid for the price.

What's a decent decanter, under $100 ? I need to buy one. Do I need to buy expensive ones like Riedel ? I can't imagine decanter making a lot of difference.

First of all, what part of Canada do you live in? The laws and wine buying difficulties are very different if you live in BC than say, Ontario. If you do live in BC, I can help you out a lot on where to buy, etc. And yes... collecting wine in Canada is a very expensive hobby.

Decanter's make a huge difference, especially because you're looking at buying wines that benefit immensely from a decant (Barolo's, Amarone's, etc). But, you don't need a $100+ decanter to get the near-same effect. You can go to a local kitchen store and find a no-name one for way cheaper. If you're going to splurge on glass, make it on the glasses and not the decanter IMO... but, with that said, you also don't need to out and pay $30/glass, especially being just a beginner. I would take a look at local kitchen stores as well as craigslist, where a lot of people just got glassware for Christmas that they don't want. (I picked up a huge set of Speiglau Glassware off of Craigslist a year or so ago for a fraction of the sticker price).

I totally agree that Canada is not a country sutiable for wine collection. The price is ridiculosuly high. I live in Toronto, Ontario.

Toronto is better than British Columbia (I live in Vancouver). Our taxes are, I believe, between 30 - 40 percent higher.

hmm, where to begin. I work on the retail side of the biz right now and for the foreseeable future. My knowledge has more come from really wanting to learn about wine and various areas of the world

Glasses do make a fairly big difference, and was noted by canuck, its more wise to spend the money on good stemware rather then a decanter. For me, all of my decanters are purely functional and i've yet to spend over $40 on one. Hell, I've even used vases that I've cleaned in a pinch.

What I would suggest for starting out is getting yourself a set of burgundy/pinot glasses for nebbiolo, barbera, and pinot noir. THe bowl shape of the glass and the tapering inwards allows for air to hit the surface and then concentrate the aromas. Since those grapes generally are more delicate and lead to a variety of aromatics, they want to concentrate the aromas

You should also get a set of Bordeaux stems. This will cover you for basically every other red wine. Its a broad brush and there are specific glasses for syrah, brunello, and tempranillo but that doesn't really need to be explored all too much, and quite frankly outside of a tempranillo glass, the other glasses I mentioned didn't really add too much to the wines. Syrah and Brunello glasses are essentially bordeaux stems that are either slightly bigger or minutely smaller

for whites I prefer chardonnay glasses in general. I also uses chardonnay glasses for champagne and other bubblies because I like to smell the aromatics and unless you are drinking older champagne, the bubbles will be more then fine in a chard glass

i won't get into specific recs as I don't know what your LCBO carries off hand and what the prices are. I do know that there is a monthly release schedule for the LCBO, so if you ever have any questions about what to buy for putting down, don't hesitate to put out what is on the release list that is in that price range

With trying burgundy like you did with chambolle, I'd say that you will have to try a ton of different wines. The thing is, burgundy is extremely different then amarone, so its hard to know where to start you at with burgundy. I'd also say that you should try to find some burgs with a bit of age on them. The 02s are still pretty tight and I'd hold off on the 05s and 06s for a very long time, but the 01s, 00s, and 07s are all very nice and hold to the hierarchies that exist in burgundy. What I mean by that is that a village wine won't really be competing with a top 1er and a quality Grand Cru will still be "better" than a good 1er. Those vintages that I just mentioned also show off the individual terroirs extremely well and can start to give you a sense of place in burgundy



This is great advice. I would say that the negociant arm of chave has disappointed me tbh. More that the negociant wines from chave have come across as fairly international in style rather then the traditional style that the domaine is well known for.

For the northern rhone, one producer that I would highly reccomend checking out is Vincent Paris. He's situated in Cornas and the terroir that he gets his fruit from is very impressive. His vineyards essentially sit real close to Alain Voge and Noel Verset and IIRC one of his vineyards is right next to Clape. So, yea, extremely good terroir, and all of his wines are at great prices. I know that the 07 Granit 30 (this is the slope degree) generally retails around $35 and the Granit 60 retails for around 50. He also makes a really good St Joseph that goes for under $25

Just wanted to say how much I enjoy reading this thread from time to time.

I can't afford the high quality wines that some of you guys are lucky enough to sample and tend to buy in the lower/mid-range pricewise (£7-£12, I guess $11-$18). In the last couple of years about 80% of my purchases have been red wine and 70% of those have been on the lighter side - generally top end Beaujolais and bottom end Burgundy and Kiwi pinot noir.

On Boxing Day, I had a bottle of Ch. Tour du Haut Moulin 2001. It was at the top end of my price range at £11 but boy was it worth it. I haven't fallen in love with a wine like that for years. I find it hard to describe wines but it had a plummy kind of taste with some vanilla hints. What I really noticed though was a feeling that it was really well structured - I've not got that with the gamays and pinots I've been drinking (is that because the tannins are more pronounced with claret?)



So, for a NY resolution, I decided to stop drinking Monday - Wednesday but use the cash saved to treat myself to a decent claret or other red at the weekend. Unfortunately my local store was out of the Moulin so I bought a couple of another cru bourgois - Ch Moulin a Vent 1999. I didn't like it quite as much but it was still great and at only £9 felt like good value.



Any tips on how I might develop from here? In the past I've enjoyed Paullic but Pomerol less so. However, we're talking miniscule sample sizes here.

Tried Barbaresco Sori Paitin 2005 today, wasn't very impressed at the first sip without decanting. A little too much tannin for me. I was pretty dissapointed considering the price paid ( CAD $40) , but after 2hr decanting, the wine kept getting better. With pork it became very enjoyable. Pretty well balanced taste with juicy finish. However, still not very impressed for the steep price paid. Im hesitant to try Barolo now, I am wondering whether I should try some French wine instead.

Jinster, nothing better than bargain value wine, what was the best red wine in terms of value in your opinion?

This is going to be long, but I was at the UGC in Chicago yesterday. Every year the UGC comes to the states to pour a bunch of bordeaux for the upcoming release, which this year is the 2007 vintage.

This vintage is a lighter vintage and certainly not one of the better ones of this decade. But, that is all relative as the wines were really nice and when they inevitably go on sale down the road, they will be worth picking up for some mid-term cellaring and drinking.

Onto the notes:

UGC 2007 BORDEAUX - The Drake, Chicago IL (1/25/2010)

This was divided up into two tasting sessions and I was in the second session. This presented a good chance to check out a good variety from this much maligned vintage. There were no real expectations going in and I wanted to see for myself how the wines were
Graves Red and Blancs

• 2007 Château de Fieuzal - France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan
  nose: tight nose with some smokey tones, black currants, earth, cedar, and dark red cherries. Well balanced with solid depth, but a bit plain
  
  taste: good medium feel with nice tannins and tones of smoke, cassis, cedar, and dark red cherries. The mid-palate is lacking and it thins out on the back end
  
  overall: a solid bordeaux. Its nice enough, but it comes off as fairly plain. If it can be bought at a decent price, it can work as a nice food wine (86 pts.)
• 2007 Château Haut-Bailly - France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan
  nose: nice and tart nose of smoke, graphite, red fruits, dark red cherries, and some bits of sour berries. Has a more higher toned aromatic sense to it and a tartness to it
  
  taste: excellent medium/full feel with big tannins right now and tart tones of smoke, red fruits, dark red cherries and some bits of berries and cedar. Good depth, but the tannins are pretty tough right now
  
  overall: This is a nice wine. With a bit of age on it, it could nicely open up and be a real attractive wine. Might not be a long distance runner, but is very enjoyable (90 pts.)
• 2007 Château Haut-Bergey - France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan
  nose: nice tones of scorched earth, dark red cherries, sour red fruits, graphite, and some green tones sneak in underneath. The green is a bit there too much and it is a bit annoying
  
  taste: very good medium/full feel with good supporting tannins and tones of scorched earth, dark red cherries, graphite, and green tones.
  
  overall: The green tones seem to lurk on this a bit too much. Its a nice wine, and if it can be had at a good price, this too can be a nice food wine in a few years and if the green can be absorbed a bit (87 pts.)
• 2007 Château Malartic-Lagravière - France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan
  nose: fairly charred nose with tones of smoke, charcoal, dark red cherries, and tart sour red fruits. A bit over charred on the nose with decent depth
  
  taste: nice medium feel of red fruits, charcoal, and dark red cherries. Good tannins, but there is just something lacking on this right now
  
  overall: Would be best with food. Could use a couple of years, but this is a solid wine, but not much more then that (87 pts.)
• 2007 Château Pape Clément - France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan
  nose: fairly elegant and smokey nose with tones of toast, dark red fruits, cedar, and tobacco leaf. Has a fairly expressive side to it, but is wound up fairly tight
  
  taste: well balanced with good firm tannins and fuller tones of smoke, toast, dark red fruits, cedar and sour berries. The tones have a nice roundness to them right now as well
  
  overall: A elegant wine. This one could really be nice in a few years and it did stick out for me. Its tightly wound right now, but when it opens up, it could be a real fun wine to have (92 pts.)
• 2007 Domaine de Chevalier Blanc - France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan
  nose: a bit tight, but with some swirling tasty tones of tart citrus, minerals, melons, some cream tones, and white peaches. Good depth with a focus on it right now
  
  taste: very young with medium+ acidity. Excellent and suave feel of minerals, creams, white peaches, and tart citrus tones all work well together
  
  overall: needs a good amount of time to fully come together. Shows a lot of promise right now with and has a real attractive side to it that will only get better (92 pts.)
• 2007 Château Larrivet-Haut-Brion Blanc - France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan
  nose: nice tones of white peaches start upfront along wiht tones of minerals, melon rinds, and a good amount of tart citrus'. Has a good tartness to it right now, along with the tones being fairly focused as well
  
  taste: Tasty citrusy backdrop on the palate along with white peaches, minerals and bits of melons. Very good medium acidity with a real good lighter feel
  
  overall: A lot of citrus on this. Has a tartness to it that is fairly upfront right now. Comes off as drinking right now, but could benefit from some age to round out the tones a bit more (90 pts.)
• 2007 Château Pape Clément Blanc - France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan
  nose: tight, but has a real rich depth to it with real tart tones of honeydew, smoke, sweet lemons, all sorts of various tart citrus tones and bits of white fruits. Great purity and precision on the nose add to the allure right now
  
  taste: very lovely feel with medium/high acidity and delicious tones of honeydew, white fruits, peach blossoms, bits of minerals, sweet lemons, and some bits of smokey tones. The acidity is pronounced right now
  
  overall: this is already showing well right now surprisingly, but that feels more like a glimpse of what can come. This needs some time to balanced itself out, but it looks like it could be a real stunner (93 pts.)
• 2007 Château Smith Haut Lafitte Blanc - France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan
  nose: nice citrusy nose of lemon zest, citrus peels, bits of white fruits and some limes. The fruit is almost tropical and has a more upfront style
  
  taste: really good medium feel with excellent tones of lemon zest, citrus peels, white fruits, and navel oranges. Excellent medium+ acidity on this right now
  
  overall: Extremely good right now, but it is holding back a bit. Once this gets sorted out a bit, this should be a real quality wine. The feel is real good and the finish lingers a bit really nicely (91 pts.)

Right Bank

• 2007 Château Angélus - France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
  nose: nice and feminine nose of berries, cedary oak, red fruits, red currants and some round cherry tones. Has an almost perfumed quality to it, but is also a bit lighter as well
  
  taste: good medium feel with good tannins and soft tones of berries, cedary oak, red fruits and bits of cherries. There wasn't much of a mid-palate to speak of which was a problem
  
  overall: this was a bit of a letdown. It was real nice on the nose, so if the palate can flesh out a bit, this could be a pretty wine. (89 pts.)
• 2007 Château Canon - France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
  nose: fairly dense on the nose and wound a bit tight, but has a real elegant side to it with red fruits, red currants, cherries, bits of florals and some cedar tones. Very nice and showing its youth on the nose right now
  
  taste: very dense tannins with a real good medium feel and tones of red fruits, cedar, floral bits, along with red currants and spices. The tannins are fairly rough right now and show off the youth of the wine
  
  overall: this can become a nice wine with some patience. It won't be a stunner, but something fun to have instead. (90 pts.)
• 2007 Château Canon-la-Gaffelière - France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
  nose: has a good richness to it with dark tones of dark red cherries, black currants, cedar, dark berries, and some bits of spices. Good depth and fairly open right now
  
  taste: good tannins support this with a good medium feel and tones of dark berries, and spice tones, dark red cherries, and some bits of cedar. Medium acidity adds to this and shows off its youth
  
  overall: A real nice wine. Surprised by the darker profile as most of the other 07s had a higher toned profile. Nice depth on both the nose and palate, this does need a bit of time to round into form and should be a nice wine over the mid-term (90 pts.)
• 2007 Château Figeac - France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
  nose: has a rather regal sense to itself on the nose with tones of dark red cherries, tobacco, cedar, bits of clay, red florals, and various wild herbs. There is a bit of a perfumed quality to it as well with nice depth
  
  taste: silky and refined medium feel with plush tannins and round tones of dark red cherries, red currants, red florals, spice tones, and wild herbs. This also had nice depth as well
  
  overall: This really stood out. A real elegant wine with an alluring quality to it. Well polished with good tones on both the nose and palate. (92 pts.)
• 2007 Clos Fourtet - France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
  nose: dark and elegant nose of dark berries, spices, cedar, red florals, bits of clay and some rounded tones of red cherries. Has a higher toned sense to it that is rather fragrant right now
  
  taste: effusive medium feel with good supporting tannins and medium+ acidity along with round tones of berries, spices, lots of herbs, cedar and hints of clay
  
  overall: the cab franc shows itself right now. A nicely styled young bordeaux that will need some time to come together. This should be very nice in a few years and if it can be had for a good price, its well worth having (91 pts.)
• 2007 Château Clinet - France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Pomerol
  nose: has a real sexy appeal on the nose with red fruits, red currants, bits of fresh berries and a touch of cedar. Very nice, but a bit tight at the moment
  
  taste: very young with a polished medium feel and sturdy tannins along with tones of red fruits, red currants, red cherries and some bits of cedar. Good depth but its on the lighter side of being medium and seemed to be lacking a mid-palate at the time
  
  overall: If the palate can flesh out and be more in tune with the nose, this could turn out to be a possible gem in this vintage. Has an elegant side to it that makes it attractive and fun to drink (90 pts.)
• 2007 Château Gazin - France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Pomerol
  nose: pretty and floral with red cherries, red florals, purple florals, red currants and cedar tones. There is a nice and lifting purity on the tones that is really nice
  
  taste: good depth with a nice medium feel and some tough tannins along with tones of red cherries, red and purple florals and a nice touch of cedar and spice
  
  overall: The palate isn't at the level of the nose just yet, but this is a very nice wine. This should be real nice in 5-8 years and really showed itself off well (91 pts.)
• 2007 Château La Conseillante - France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Pomerol
  nose: very perfumed nose with pretty tones of red florals, red cherries, some bits of dark berries and spices. Nice and aromatic with a real elegant side to it
  
  taste: pretty medium feel with excellent tones of red florals, red cherries cedar and bits of spices. Well balanced with tart acidity that is noticeable
  
  overall: a pretty wine. Needs some time to fully come together, but this is quite nice right now. The price is a bit much for this right now, but this is a real nice pomerol and would be worth getting if the price comes down on it (92 pts.)

Margaux& St. Estephe

• 2007 Château Kirwan - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux
  nose: nice and aromatic nose of smoke, leather, cedar, dark red cherries and berry tones. A lighter style on the nose that is nice but not too deep
  
  taste: very good tannins and a nice medium feel with good tones of leather, cedar, dark red cherries and some bits of tobacco leaf. Tannins are nice and supporting, but not too chewy
  
  overall: the word that comes to my head with this wine is that its very english. With some age this should be a nice and understated wine, but never anything all too spectacular (88 pts.)
• 2007 Château Labégorce - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux
  nose: rather green nose with some bell pepper tones, cedar, tobacco, and dark red cherries. A bit on the simple side as well
  
  taste: comes off as green and rather astringent with tones of bell pepper, cedar, and dark red cherries
  
  overall: forgettable. This had some hard tannins on it as well and was spat out rather quickly (79 pts.)
• 2007 Château Lascombes - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux
  nose: very toasty nose that is a bit much along with cedar, dark red cherries, berries and tobacco. The oak was a bit much considering the fruit behind it for this vintage. It isn't off-putting, but more noticeable
  
  taste: excellent medium/full feel with good tannins and tones of black currants, cedar, dark red cherries and tobacco. Well balanced and the toast isn't as pronounced
  
  overall: This could be a nice wine when it gets a few more years on it. The oak was a bit too noticeable on the nose, but it wasn't as pronounced on the palate (89 pts.)
• 2007 Château Marquis de Terme - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux
  nose: very margaux nose of leather, cedar, red cherries, tobacco, black currants and bits of smoke. Nice and fragrant but lacking some depth
  
  taste: well balanced medium feel with medium+ acidity and nice tannins. Nice tones of leather, cedar, red cherries, and tobacco all work well together
  
  overall: this was drinking fine right now. This is more of a food wine and offers up well balanced tones and could use a few years to fully come together (87 pts.)
• 2007 Château Rauzan-Ségla - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux
  nose: nice smokey backdrop on the nose with well balanced tones of red cherries, cedar, cranberries, and leather. Good depth with a nice and fragrant nose
  
  taste: excellent medium feel with good tannins and tones of smoke, cedar, red cherries, and cranberries with a touch of floral tones. Good depth with nice balance, but the finish is a bit clipped
  
  overall: this was the best of the margauxs that I tasted. This has more depth and expression to it then the other wines from margaux, but the clipped finished left a bit of a letdown (90 pts.)
• 2007 Château Lafon-Rochet - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Estèphe
  nose: attractive and lighter nose of round red fruits, red cherries, spice box, tobacco and some bits of cedar. Medium depth on the nose with a nice higher toned style
  
  taste: approachable and nice medium/full feel with good tannins and red fruits, red cherries, cedar and tobacco tones. Decent dept with a more forward feel on the palate
  
  overall: The tannins are more supporting right now and this comes off as ready to drink right now. It could use some age to round into form, but this comes off as being a short to mid term drinker (88 pts.)