Tasted at the chateau, I wrote at primeur that Francois Mitjavile might deserve a higher score once in bottle. This is a sensational Saint Emilion. It has a pastille-like exuberance on the nose with red fruits mingling with blueberry and a touch of Hoi Sin and crushed stone. The palate is underpinned by very fine tannins and possesses a beguiling sense of symmetry. The finish has 2009 trademark touches of white pepper and bay leaf that demonstrated great persistency, but it has barely begun showing exactly what it can do. Tasted November 2011.
-Wine Journal Jan 2012

(93-95 pts)
Tasted at the chateau. This finished its alcoholic fermentation 8-10 days ago. This has a supremely pure, delineated bouquet that reminds me of a Grand Cru Burgundy! Blackberry leaf, a touch of raspberry, limestone and just a faint hint of orange-blossom. Very fine definition. There is a little gas on the entry from the fermentation, but the palate is well balanced, nice tension and purity, demonstrating a vibrant sense of minerality. Very linear towards the finish, stricter than the 2008 with a tensile blackcurrant and raspberry finish. Good length. This will surely blossom by the time of bottling, whereupon it may deserve a higher mark. Cerebral (as ever.) Tasted March 2010.
-Wine Journal May 2010

Dark ruby-red. Ripe red cherry, raspberry liqueur, coffee and underbrush on the concentrated nose. Then rich, dense and suave on the palate, with a chocolatey ripeness to the red and dark fruit flavors. Finishes very long, with enticing juiciness and smooth tannins. This very rich, sweet Tertre-Roteboeuf is in the process of shutting down and actually offers less of the exuberantly rich sweet fruit it showed during the Primeurs , but it has the stuffing and backbone for a glorious mid-term life in bottle.

(an 80/20 blend of merlot and cabernet franc) Pretty medium ruby-red color. Captivating, drop-dead gorgeous nose conveys extremely pure and intense aromas of red berries, cinnamon, minerals, cedar and mirabelle, all lifted by a delicate smoky nuance: grand cru Burgundy made in Bordeaux Then silky-smooth on the palate, with a busload of red fruit flavors (fresh raspberry, red cherry syrup, redcurrant jelly) complicated by sweet spice and mineral notes. Harmonious acids somehow keep this very rich, hedonistic wine light and lively on the palate, and draw out the finish. The sexy and extremely sweet red berry flavors resonate long and loud on the utterly silky back end. This is so charming and expressive today that I wonder how many bottles of this elixir will make it to a ripe old age.

[85M/15CF] Black red; intense, dense, roasted fruit to smell, with a touch of 'game'; powerful and yet refined, finely tannic, very rich, very concentrated yet without any asperity or excess weight whatsoever. At 15.6% alcohol this has a remarkable balance: a little warmth, yes, but nothing tiring, no bitterness, no hardness, no burn. It's all in the balance of constituents. Very sweet in fruit, but a wonderfully grand impression of overall balance; harmonious, complex and fine, retaining its characteristic 'burgundian' transparency and finesse, and, the alcohol notwithstanding, with no feeling of excess or weight at all. Effortless, subtle, complex, mouthcoating and very long in ripe, sweet perfume to finish. Extra-ordinary and individual. Expressive of the year, the Cru, and François Mitjaville's gifted winemaking skills. 2018-40+