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A big time sleeper of the vintage as well as a fabulous value, this dark ruby/purple-colored offering hit all cylinders in 2004, a credit to proprietor Jean Thiel. Supple tannins, a big, sweet, fleshy personality, and plenty of creme de cassis, cherry, earth, and background oak are found in this full-bodied, flamboyant wine. It can be drunk now or cellared for 15 or more years.
(181, The Wine Advocate)

A fabulous sleeper of the vintage, this estate, which has made a succession of brilliant wines under the administration of Bordeaux’s visionary Bernard Magrez, has turned out another terrific effort. A blend of 50% Merlot, 40% Cabernet Sauvignon, and the rest Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot, this wine exhibits a sensational smorgasbord of aromas ranging from red and black fruits to toasty oak to licorice, high quality cigar tobacco, and spice box. Flavorful and full-bodied, with rich fruit, moderate but sweet tannin, and a long, pure finish, this is a dazzling effort in 2006 that should hit its adolescent stage in about 4-5 years and last for two decades. Excellent value.
(181, The Wine Advocate)

A super value, this deep ruby/purple-colored St.-Emilion offers aromas and flavors not too dissimilar from a top vintage of the famed L'Evangile. Sweet blackberry and wild mountain berry fruit is interwoven with hints of raisins, plums, and white flowers. Medium-bodied and fleshy, with excellent purity and sweet fruit, this is undoubtedly a sleeper of the vintage. As the wine sits in the glass, more black raspberries seem to emerge.
(146, The Wine Advocate)

The 2006 Haut Bages Liberal has a gentle, but respectable bouquet with better fruit intensity than the 2006 Grand Puy Ducasse. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannin, pleasing weight in the mouth, a keen line of acidity with an attractive, saline finish that begs another sip. Probably not the most glamorous wine of the vintage, but this is a very good effort.
(Interim - May 2016, The Wine Advocate)

This wine seemed more impressive from cask than it is from bottle, as the oak seems to overwhelm much of its personality, and the wine’s austere, astringent tannins are cause for concern. It is concentrated and dark ruby purple, but the oak and tannin excesses seem to suggest an uncertain future. In any event, patience is most definitely required.

(181, The Wine Advocate)

Tasted at the château, the 2006 Château Saint-Pierre has a ripe blackberry, kirsch, cedar and liquorice-scented bouquet that feels as if it is approaching its drinking plateau. The palate is sweet on the entry with liquorice-tinged black fruit, slightly rustic tannins, quite spicy and peppery towards the finish. There is impressive body to this Saint-Pierre, even though it does not possess the precision that more recent vintages have displayed.
(Interim - May 2016, The Wine Advocate)

The 2006 Soutard’s astringent tannins and emaciated, austere, lean personality are dominated by a powdered rock-like character (which gives the wine an undeniable minerality). Although fresh, it lacks concentration, and reveals some of the dilution that plagued a number of wines in this vintage.
(181, The Wine Advocate)

Tasted at Bordeaux Index's annual 10-Year On tasting in London. The 2006 Château Poujeaux has an attractive bouquet with plenty of lovely blackcurrant and raspberry fruit interlaced with cedar and tobacco notes. The palate is medium-bodied with good grip in the mouth, impressive substance and a tightly-coiled, saline finish that suggests this might surpass expectation.
(Interim - May 2016, The Wine Advocate)

Tasted at the property, the 2006 Château Pichon-Lalande has a voluminous bouquet with outgoing blackberry, cassis and violets scents, a touch of boysenberry jam tucked just underneath, although it does not quite have the delineation of the Lynch Bages. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannin. This feels very composed in the mouth, quite fresh with well-judged acidity, harmonious and tensile on the finish. This deserves a higher score than I awarded out of barrel and it continues to improve year by year.
(Interim - May 2016, The Wine Advocate)

Tasted at Bordeaux Index's annual 10-Year On tasting in London.The 2006 Château Branaire-Ducru has a lifted forest floor, minty bouquet that needs to show more fruit intensity. It just lacks a little conviction. The palate is medium-bodied with chewy tannin, a little rustic compared to its peers with a grainy, quite savory finish that needs more depth. This is drinking perfectly now and I would not leave it more than several years.

(Interim - May 2016, The Wine Advocate)

Tasted at Bordeaux Index's annual 10-Year On tasting in London. I awarded the 2006 Château Lagrange a very high score when I tasted it from barrel. It does nothing to dispel my optismism in bottle after ten years. It has a lively, quite vivacious bouquet with blackberry, briary, cedar and violet scents, almost Margaux-like in style. The palate is medium-bodied with a fine grip in the mouth. The acidity here is well judged, extremely well focused with impressive weight and structure on the finish, backed up by that tobacco-stained fruit. You cannot go wrong with Lagrange in this vintage.
(Interim - May 2016, The Wine Advocate)

Tasted three separate times, this 2006 underperformed from the bottle and was nearly impossible to penetrate. It exhibits high tannin, an austere personality, and seemingly insufficient depth or concentration to balance out the wine’s structure. Masochists will probably rate it higher, but I felt this offering was burdened down by a foreboding structure to the detriment of concentrated fruit and overall equilibrium. Time will tell, but my instincts suggest this 2006 St.-Emilion is likely to dry out before it ever blossoms.
(181, The Wine Advocate)

Another sleeper of the vintage from an estate that has been doing everything right since 1998, this deep purple-hued 2006 exhibits sweet blue and blackberry fruit intermixed with notions of licorice, camphor, and flowers. The wine possesses outstanding concentration, medium to full body, moderately firm, but sweet, noble tannins, and a long finish. The ripeness of the fruit suggests a certain degree of accessibility.
(181, The Wine Advocate)

This attractive, seductive 2008 reveals plenty of oak and earth along with copious quantities of red and black fruits in its perfumed, supple textured, succulent personality. Drink this medium-bodied wine over the next decade.

(194, The Wine Advocate)

Tasted at Bordeaux Index's annual 10-Year On tasting in London and at the château, the 2006 Château Barde Haut has a soft, raspberry preserve and crushed strawberry-scented bouquet with just a dab of marmalade. The palate is fully matured after ten years with slightly dry tannin on the entry, quite masculine in style and needing more flesh and depth to come through on the finish. I have tasted much better bottles of this in recent years; I recommend drinking bottles sooner rather than later.
(Interim - May 2016, The Wine Advocate)

Since being purchased by Bordeaux’s well-known aircraft manufacturer, Dassault has gone from strength to strength. The fruit-forward, supple-textured 2004 offers abundant amounts of plum, black currant, and cherry fruit, medium body, silky tannin, low acidity, and an undeniably charming, sensual style. Drink it over the next decade.


(171, The Wine Advocate)