La Tour Carnet 2008

2008: A sleeper of the vintage, the 2008 exhibits a dense plum/purple color along with loads of sweet berry fruit, black cherries, licorice and camphor intermixed with hints of mocha and oak. Reminiscent of La Lagune, the texture is plush, round, generous and irresistible. Drink this pure, impressively endowed 2008 over the next 10-14 years.

Blackish crimson. Sweet, opulent, late picked but a very slight lack of freshness. Clean, brisk finish. Just a little more interest and lift wouldn't come amiss - all texture rather than flavour at the moment.

Another sleeper of the vintage, this blend of 52% Merlot and 48% Cabernet Sauvignon was cropped at a low 33 hectoliters per hectare, and the harvest was accomplished between October 7-25. The 2008 may turn out to be the best wine of the modern era, but the 2001, 2005, and 2006 are very strong. The 2008 exhibits loads of cassis, lead pencil shavings, spice box, and hints of cedar as well as herbs in its complex aromatics. The wine possesses outstanding texture, superb purity, good freshness (because of higher than normal acids), and ripe, long tannin. It is almost an anomaly to have tannins this ripe with acids this crisp. Deep, rich, and full-bodied, the 2008 La Tour Carnet should evolve over the next twenty years.Bernard Magrez told me he had 35 people working on the triage tables. The vinification is very classic, somewhat Burgundian in style, with small wood fermentors, manual pigeage (punching down), and everything flowing by gravity with little exposure to oxygen or any traumatic force.