One of the finest wines ever made by proprietor Christian Dauriac, this big, chunky, fleshy, corpulent St.-Emilion is bursting with blueberry, blackberry and raspberry fruit interwoven with smoky charcoal and barbecue notes. It is full-bodied and unctuously textured, with plenty of weight as well as very impressive concentration and extract. There is no shortage of glycerin (alcohol) and tannin in this powerful St.-Emilion that should evolve for up to two decades.

A superb effort from Destieux, which has been on a relatively hot streak over recent vintages, the opaque blue/purple 2009 reveals an exquisite nose of incense, spring flowers, blueberries, black raspberries, charcoal, and background oak. Dense, corpulent, and full-bodied with abundant power as well as a skyscraper-like textural impression as well as lots of silkiness, glycerin, and richness, this big, powerful, quasi-modern-styled St.-Emilion can be drunk over the next 15-20 years. (Tasted three times.)