2009 Clos Fourtet

Welcoming aromatics, fully melted tannins even on the opening beats coupled with fresh juicy plum fruits and a limestone bite. This is delicious, tobacco, baking spice, cinnamon, cumin, incense, rosebuds and blackberry fruits. High quality, and totally ready to sink right in. 80% new oak. Stephane Derenoncourt and Jean-Claude Berrouet consultants.

Graceful and vibrant ruby colour, beautifully blanced, this is rich and expressive, with a ton of exuberant ripe fruit, enveloped by velvety textured tannins, with smoked bacon, grilled damson, cloves and baking spices of a warm year, all held in check by limestone fingerprints that bring it back into line every time it threatens to go too far. Nothing here is drying, and the bitter black chocolate gives focus on the finish. A flash of crème de cassis heat, but so much heart and drawn out succulence. 80% new oak. Stephane Derenoncourt and Jean-Claude Berrouet consultants.

The greatest Clos Fourtet I've ever tasted, eclipsing the heavenly 2005 and 2015, the 2009 Clos Fourtet offers an insane bouquet of black cherry and black currant fruits as well as a loads of smoked tobacco, chocolate, licorice, and toasted spices. It shows a touch of classic limestone-influenced white truffle with time in the glass and is as majestic as they come on the palate, with full-bodied richness, a seamless texture, beautiful tannins, and a monster of a finish. A blend of 88% Merlot, 8% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 4% Cabernet Franc brought up in 80% new French oak, this magical Saint-Emilion can be enjoyed any time over the coming 30-40 years.