Bright medium ruby. Very perfumed and pure on the nose, with expressive red and black fruits, sweet spices, cocoa and flowers jumping out of the glass. Then extremely smooth and suave in the mouth, with unbelievable class to the dark berry, coffee, Oriental spices and bitter chocolate flavors; uncommonly for this Pomerol of nearly mythical proportions, the 1995 Petrus boasts a penetrating minerality that contributes to the impression of precision, verve and lightness of being. The finish is smooth and classic, with noble tannins and lingering violet and cocoa echoes. Not the most powerful Petrus you’ll ever taste, but a paragon of balance and gracefulness, it’s simply impossible to describe just how seamless and weightless this beautiful wine is, with tannins that are so unique in their “touch” that I cannot but score the wine as high as I have. Drinking window: now-2045. Ian D'Agata Terroirsense.com Feb 2021

This is like a genie in the bottle. Fascinating yet subtle aromas of blackberry, minerals, fresh flowers and Spanish cedar. Full-bodied, with wonderful layers of ultrafine tannins. It coats your mouth and tantalizes your palate. A gorgeous thing all around.--'95/'96 Bordeaux retrospective.

The 1995 Petrus is one of the finest vintages of the decade, a silver medal behind the brilliant 1998. This bottle might well constitute the best that I have encountered. It has a beautiful, focused nose with hints of game and humidor infusing the black fruit. With aeration more red fruit becomes evident, allied with a touch of roasted chestnut. The palate is supremely well balanced, slightly gamey and with impressive grip. There is a bit of chutzpah about this Petrus, the way in which it fans out towards the finish. You could broach bottles now, although this example suggests that it is going to be very interesting to follow over the next 20 years. Tasted at the Petrus dinner at Hide restaurant in London.

It is interesting how this wine continues to evolve. Unquestionably one of the vintage's superstars, the 1995 Petrus is taking on a personality similar to the extraordinarily backward, muscular 1975. This is not a Petrus that can be approached in its youth (i.e., the perfect duo of 1989 and 1990). The wine exhibits an opaque ruby/purple color, followed by a knock-out nose of pain grille, jammy black fruits, and roasted coffee. On the palate, it possesses teeth-staining extract levels, massive body, and rich, sweet black fruits buttressed by powerful, noticeable tannin. A formidably endowed wine with layers of extract, this is a huge, tannic, monstrous-sized Petrus that will require a minimum of 10 years of cellaring. Forget all the nonsense about Merlot producing sweet, soft, ready to drink wines, because low yielding, old Merlot vines made in the way of Petrus and other top Pomerols frequently possess as much aging potential as any great Cabernet Sauvignon-based wine in the world. Look for the 1995 Petrus to last for 50+ years. Anticipated maturity: 2007-2050.

Robert Parker (Wine Advocate #115, Feb 1998)

Saturated red-ruby color. Knockout aromas of black raspberry, melted toffee, minerals and smoky oak. Explosively spicy, mulberry-flavored fruit builds and builds in the mouth. Harmonious acidity gives this extremely rich, large-scaled Petrus great balance for aging. Finishes with substantial but thoroughly ripe tannins and palate-staining length. At this early stage, I rate this wine a hair behind the supernal '90 but ahead of the '89. Most of the '95 Moueix wines I tasted seemed a bit stunted by the bottling, but not this one!

The 1995 is another legendary effort, rivaling what Petrus created in 1989 and 1990. The production was extremely small, with yields of under 40 hectoliters per hectare, and only 3000 cases produced (as opposed to the normal 4500 cases). It reminds me of a modern day clone of the 1975 given its massive richness, formidable power, and huge, mouthfilling personality. The wine possesses layers of concentrated fruit, an opaque purple color, high alcohol, great ripeness, low acidity, and a mouthsearing tannin level. This should turn out to be a nearly perfect Petrus for drinking between 2005-2035. Because he is a reference point for both Bordeaux and California, it is fashionable to criticize Christian Moueix and his bevy of top estates, but he has clearly fashioned a great 1995. All of the wines in this segment were tasted between March 19 and March 28 in Bordeaux. Most of the important wines from both the 1994 and 1995 vintages were tasted three separate times during my ten-day stay in Bordeaux.

Quality 655 | Brand 997 | Economics 982 | buzz brand
Quality: Predicted life of 20 years, one of the longest drinking windows in its peer group, which averages 9 years Brand: #3 Most sought after wine globally, with 69,502 searches on Wine-Searcher per month Economics: More traded at auction than its peers, its top 5 vintages having seen 1,584 75cl equivalent bottles traded in the past year Production: Higher yields than its peer group average of 35 hl/ha

- www.wine-lister.com June 2017