This is an amazing "garage" wine for the vintage (only 3,000 bottles produced). The 1999 Croix de Labrie offers sweet, port-like blackberry, cherry, and strawberry fruit, terrific texture, a savory, lush, explosive mid-palate, low acidity, and a ripe finish revealing notions of toasty oak and chocolate. It is an exuberant, full-bodied, lavishly rich effort to enjoy now and over the next ten years.

From a 1.5-hectare parcel of low-cropped merlot; production in '99 was further reduced by a radical saignee. Black-ruby color. Sappy, superripe aromas of black cherry, black raspberry, bitter chocolate and espresso, plus a suggestion of game. Sweet, silky and thick, with sappy cherry and black raspberry flavors and a suggestion of surmaturite. Finishes with big but ripe tannins that coat the teeth and palate. Perhaps not quite as structured as the superb '98, but a wine with terrific potential.