This is a beautiful wine. A bouquet surfeit with joie-de-vivre and elan, ripe black cherries, cassis and a touch of damson, but underneath all that precocious fruit is a real, tangible sense of minerality. The palate is silky smooth on the entry with vestiges of creamy oak still to be resolved, wonderful persistency on the licentious finish. Gorgeous! Tasted October 2009.

Drink 2011-2035
-Parker's Wine Buyer's Guide No 7

In many respects, the 2002 may be even more impressive than the 2003. A far more challenging vintage to get everything right, and especially in St.-Emilion, where many disappointments have been produced, this is one of the wines of the vintage and (along with Pavie) among the finest wines from the Right Bank. It possesses a deep purple color as well as a gorgeous nose of creme de cassis, blackberries, wet stones, and wonderfully perfumed floral notes. When the wine hits the palate, it exhibits impressive purity, medium to full body, a multi-layered texture, and extraordinary precision and intensity with a finish just short of 50 seconds. Anticipated maturity: 2011-2035.

Saturated ruby-red. Explosive aromas of blackberry, minerals, violet, espresso and bitter chocolate. Fine-grained and pliant but with terrific precision of flavor and grip. Finishes juicy and very long, with substantial dusty tannins and excellent life and lift.