Wines

96 Points! Caymus has been around for so long there is a tendency to under-estimate their wines. However, they have a brilliant track record as evidenced by the decade old 2001 Cabernet Sauvignon Vintage Selection. Abundant chocolaty, black currant, licorice and coffee aromas soar from the glass of this perfumed wine. It exhibits an opaque ruby/purple color, wonderful opulence, a deep, full-bodied mouthfeel, fabulous depth and not a hard edge to be found. While seemingly fully mature, the supple tannins, expansive fruit and glycerin, depth and overall balance suggest it will keep for another 15+ years. - Robert Parker, robertparker.com 2011

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98 Points! A brilliant showing for Christian Moueix’s well-known Napanook Vineyard, the 2001 Dominus is a blend of 81% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc and 10% Petit Verdot. A classic in the making, this is a flawless, seamless example of elegant, complex Napa Cabernet Sauvignon that possesses a Bordeaux-like personality. This gorgeous, sexy, opulent, dense ruby/purple-colored wine reveals sweet caramel, mocha, creme de cassis and kirsch notes intermixed with a hint of espresso roast as well as underbrush. Ripe, long and full-bodied with well-integrated tannin, acidity, alcohol and wood, this prodigious 2001 is drinkable now and over the next 25+ years given this estate’s longevity track record. A virtually perfect wine, it is one of the most complex 2001s at present. - Robert Parker, robertparker.com 2011

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Château du Tertre takes its name from the ground beneath it: a single, unbroken block of vines crowning one of the highest gravel rises in Margaux, where deep, well-drained soils yield small, concentrated berries with the perfume and silky tannin that define the appellation. Unusually generous plantings of Cabernet Franc alongside Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Petit Verdot give the wine its lifted florals and grace. The 2001 captured the estate just as its late-1990s renovation began paying off, in a cool, classic vintage with a dry, luminous September that produced balanced, fresh, true clarets. Long overshadowed by the flashier 2000, the 2001s have quietly become the connoisseur's Bordeaux of that era, and this bottle delivers everything mature Margaux promises at a fraction of the price of its First and Second Growth neighbors.

Tasting note, 25 years on: Deep garnet with a gentle brick rim. The nose is pure mature Margaux, with dried violets, cassis and black cherry folded into cedar, pencil shavings, sweet tobacco, forest floor and a whisper of truffle. Medium-bodied and seamless on the palate, the fruit fully resolved yet still vibrant, the tannins melted to satin and the acidity keeping everything fresh and lifted, with Cabernet Franc's graphite minerality running through an elegant, weightless mid-palate to a long, gently spiced finish. Decant thirty minutes and serve with roast lamb or duck. In its sweet spot now, with a decade of life ahead.

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96 Points! There are 48 cases of the 2001 Cabernet Sauvignon “Roennfeldt Road”. It was sourced from 62-year-old vines yielding 1.0 tons per acre. Barrel aging was done in French oak. Purple-colored, it offers an enticing and complex perfume of cedar, smoke, spice box, scorched earth, licorice, blackberry, and black currant. This is followed by a supple-textured, opulent, layered wine with gobs of spicy black fruit flavors, superb balance, and a long, full-flavored finish. Rich enough to be drunk now, it will evolve for 6-8 years and provide pleasure through 2025. - jay Miller, robertparker.com October 2007 Learn More

95 Points! Intense aromas of violets, berries and spices follow through to a full-bodied palate, with layers of supersilky tannins and a long, long finish. Very classic in style. All in elegance and length. I like it better than the 2000. Best after 2009. - Wine Spectator

94 Points! Haut-Brion’s 2001, which was bottled late (the end of September, 2003), possesses an unmistakable nobility as well as a burgeoning complexity. Plum/purple to the rim, this blend of 52% Merlot, 36% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 12% Cabernet Franc is playing it close to the vest, having closed down considerably after bottling. Nevertheless, it reveals pure notes of sweet and sour cherries, black currants, licorice, smoke, and crushed stones. Medium-bodied with excellent purity, firm tannin, and an angular, structured finish, it requires 5-7 years of cellaring. Anticipated maturity: 2009-2020+. - Robert Parker, robertparker.com

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96 Points! One vintage that was missing from my extensive vertical earlier this year was the 2001 Léoville Las Cases, and when curiosity got the better of me, I opened a bottle from my own cellar. Unwinding in the glass with aromas of cassis, cigar wrapper, pencil shavings and classy new oak, it's medium to full-bodied, deep and concentrated, with a layered core of vibrant fruit, ripe structuring tannins and a long, penetrating finish. Youthful and a little aloof, it's a classic Las Cases that is just at the very beginning of a long drinking window. It would be fascinating to compare the 2001 directly with the much-lauded 2000, as the two are very close in quality to my palate.- William Kelley, robertparker.com

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94 Points! The 2001 Eclipse (65% Grenache and 35% Shiraz from 56-65 year old vines) is still closed aromatically, but with coaxing reveals potentially fabulous quality. An opaque purple color is followed by aromas of charcoal, smoke, blackberries, and sweet cherries. This full-bodied, rich, beautifully delineated effort is extraordinarily pure as well as incredibly persistent on the palate (close to one minute). Aged in a combination of new and old large American oak hogsheads for 18 months and bottled unfiltered, it appears to have tremendous up-side potential, although I suspect many readers will not be able to defer their gratification ... and why should they? Drink it over the next decade. - Robert Parker, August 2003 Learn More

96 Points! A great showing for this wine in the mini-vertical, the 2001 Pavie has a slight lightening at the edge of its dark garnet/plum/purple color and a big, sweet kiss of cedar wood, incense, licorice, blackberry and lead pencil shavings. The wine is dense, very rich, multilayered and finishes with at least a 40- to 45-second aftertaste. This wine seems to be close to full maturity, but should hold there for easily another 15-20 years. It’s a sleeper of the vintage. - Robert Parker, robertparker.com, 2015

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96 Points! Funky and woody on the nose, the 2001 Cabernet Sauvignon still has elements of dried red cherry and black raspberry reduction with cinnamon-covered currants on the nose. I am sensing some bottle variance, but the full-bodied wine goes on to show a delightful structure that should hold together for a few more years in the bottle. Ultimately, the wine ends with a tannic edge over the long conclusion, ending with mature flavors of stewed fruit compote with an element of old oak and pine bark. - Anthony Mueller, robertparker.com

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93 Points! The 2001 Taurasi CampoRe is made in a more generous style than the normal bottling. It also spent an additional year in oak. This full-bodied, fat Aglianico is gorgeous and pure in its expression of smoke, tar, dark cherries, spices, leather and tobacco. - Antonio Galloni, Vinous

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