Château Tronquoy-Lalande Score 95–96 Deep crimson. Intense fragrant black cherry, strawberry, violet aromas with dark chocolate, roasted chestnut notes. Beautifully concentrated, glossy wine with lovely pure black fruits, fine plentiful graphite almost cashmere tannins and savoury chalky notes. Finishes firm, bittersweet and minerally. Masterful tannin management. 48% cabernet sauvignon, 40% merlot, 12% petit verdot. 13.3% alc Pauillac Blackcurrant aromas, fine-grained tannins, mid-palate richness and cedar complexity feature in many of the wines. The first growths performed extremely well, with Ch Latour slightly ahead of the pack. Nonetheless, both Ch Mouton Rothschild and Ch Lafite Rothschild are exemplary wines, showing definition and stature. I particularly liked Ch Batailley, Ch Grand-Puy-Lacoste, Ch Pichon Comtesse de Lalande, Ch Pichon Baron, Ch Pontet-Canet and Ch d’Armailhac. Château Latour Score 97–98 Deep colour. Fragrant, dark chocolate, dark cherry, blackcurrant fruits with cedar notes. Well concentrated dark chocolate blackcurrant, mocha flavours, fine grained/ graphite tannins and roasted chestnut oak flavours. Finishes al dente firm and minerally. A refined classical style with very good tannin vigour and freshness. Should age extremely well. 96% cabernet sauvignon, 4% merlot. 13.1% alc Château Mouton Rothschild Score 97–98 Medium-deep crimson. Lifted blackcurrant, blackberry aromas with toasty, marzipan roasted chestnut notes. Inky deep blackcurrant blackberry fruits, fine graphite/firm and a hint cedary tannins with plentiful toasty/ roasted chestnut/ vanilla notes. Finishes chocolaty firm and minerally with bittersweet notes. A very lovely wine with ample dark fruits, superb richness and energy. Should develop very well. 89% cabernet sauvignon, 10% merlot, 1% cabernet franc. Château Lafite Rothschild Score 96–97 Deep colour. Classical blackcurrant, blackberry, hint cedar aromas with mocha herb notes. Richly concentrated yet elegantly styled with pure blackcurrant, blackberry fruits, fine slinky/chalky dry tannins, attractive mid-palate volume, roasted chestnut, hint malt oak. Finishes grainy/ al dente firm with bittersweet notes. Impressive power, density and focus. A first wine made from almost 100% cabernet sauvignon. 96% cabernet sauvignon, 3% merlot, 1% petit verdot.
Bordeaux 73
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