Château Tertre Roteboeuf 1993

Fully mature and best drunk over the next 3–4 years, Tertre Roteboeuf’s 1993 is one of the better wines in this difficult vintage. Medium-bodied, with plum, earth, mushroom, and prune aromas, this is a well-endowed 1993 that still shows a surprisingly deep plum/cherry color, sweet fruit on the attack, medium body, and excellent depth, ripeness, and overall balance. The wine probably sells for a song, given the lackluster reputation of the vintage. This is one of the cherries to be plucked from 1993. Anticipated maturity: Now–2014. Last tasted, 12/02.

94: Barrel sample (18/20): smells like a Tuscan wine; coffee, Amarena cherries, damsons, very complex. On the palate, an almost intrusive dominance of wood (beech), very meaty, compact, bourgeois, grippy. An almost masochistically arrogant St. Emilion experience! 96: Right now a dream wine with a fragrant, slightly jammy sweetness on the nose. Juicy, fuller palate, drinking beautifully now (18/20). 01: My God! We practically had to bite our way through this wine, which should actually be beautifully mature by now: still a very dark, barely evolved color. Slightly floral, compact bouquet with an ethereal note (which even turned into fine vinegary tones after half an hour!), licorice, red elderberry, raw chopped damsons, and a peppery scent. On the palate, dense, again an unripe, rasping acidity that dominates the firm body, wet autumn leaves, sturdy tannins and unripe plums. In terms of potential, an inherently powerful, impressive wine, but it exudes no harmony at all, instead increasingly displaying the arrogance already noted in barrel. A pity about the bruised pleasure, because at 100 francs this wine would have been a real bargain in a restaurant. So for now, only a rather modest score and a small sliver of hope remain, because the wine does show quite a lot of potential. 07: At Tertre-Rôteboeuf on the occasion of a lunch. The nose is quite lovely, showing pink pepper and fine earthy tones. On the palate, sturdy tannins that keep the wine together but also make it illogically peppery. It will not be able to improve further.

Sweet, metallic, slender, spicy bouquet with raisins and a delicate tin note. Slender, metallic palate with a lean structure. Metallic finish. 16/20 drink up.

Dark red color. Medium to good intensity. Slight development. Cooked vegetal notes on the nose. Hint of acetic acid on swirling. Behind a round body, this wine ends up drying out the mouth and it disappoints me. Too oaky and lacking finesse.