Providence 2009

This 100% Merlot cuvee from Christian Moueix is an atypically masculine, full-bodied, muscular wine for Moueix. This opaque blue/purple wine displays notes of black cherries, truffles, damp earth and licorice. Full-bodied, very deep and powerful, it will need of 6-8 years of cellaring but should keep for 25-30 years. It has the potential to be the best Providence to date.

The 2009 Providence has a complex and refined bouquet with brambly red fruit, mulberry, black truffle and light tobacco scents. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannin, well judged acidity, very harmonious and poised with an elegant, tobacco and white pepper tinged finish that becomes ferrous with aeration. This feels full mature but it should continue to drink well for a number of years. What a great showing from the Pomerol cru that is now part of La Fleur-Pétrus. Tasted blind at Farr Vintners’ 2009 Bordeaux tasting. 2020 - 2038

Offers fabulous aromas of crushed blackberry and blueberry, with lightly roasted coffee bean and black olive. Full-bodied, delivering polished, chewy tannins and a long, juicy finish. Rich and powerful. Blockbuster. Roasted fruit on this. Best ever from here?

Dark crimson. Another wine, like Hosanna, where the ripeness is extreme. Very sweet start. Big and inky and muscular. Pretty rude tannins on the finish. A bit of a big blusterer. A bit ungainly. Good for those who seek mass? A little bit of alcohol on the end. But solid true wine - not confected. Drink 2016-2030

Captivating, with Lapsang souchong tea and incense flavors up front, followed by creamy-textured plum and fig sauce, blackberry preserve and ganache notes, which sail through the long, smoky and creamy finish. Best from 2013 through 2030.-J.M.