Château La Cabanne 2010

Fascinating to taste against the 2009, allowing you to trace the separate characters of these two vintages. This is higher in acidity than the 2009, with darker fruits and firmer tannins. It is a beautiful wine, perhaps not quite as immediately seductive but packed with black cherry fruits, liquorice and tobacco notes, and a confident structure that swaggers across your mouth.

This is even fresher, more linear and intense. Full-bodied and just a baby right now. Solid and muscular. Long and powerful. Exciting. Still needs time. Better in 2019.

Medium-bodied, fully mature, soft, an elegant charmer, with a deft touch of cherries, plums, wet earth, and a hint of truffle on the nose and palate. Instead of density, you find a light, refined, earthy, plummy wine that is fully ready to go. I'd opt for drinking this over the next 5 years or so for maximum pleasure.

Extremely dark purple with lilac and violet highlights. Currently restrained, yet compact and very deep, with notes of mocha, pumpernickel, and beautifully ripe fruit. Intense palate, aromatic, with ripe yet still peppery tannins, long and classic, profound. With this great Cabanne, you could explain the terroir of Pomerol in the simplest way to an oenological greenhorn in 10 years.

Deep purple‑garnet, dense at the core, with a lilac shimmer on the rim. Multi‑layered bouquet oscillating between fruit and terroir, black plums and dark mushrooms. Fleshy palate, again with baroque depth, dark malt, plum paste, enormous backbone. A classic, baroque Pomerol with great depth and brilliant potential. Not for fruit pickers, but for terroir worshippers. I’ve already arranged with François Estager for next year to taste a vertical of this truffly Pomerol. Unfortunately, the 2008 vintage won’t be included. In 2009 the cellar of La Cabanne burned down, and François had stored all his 2008s from various domaines in the tanks there to bottle them a week later. The potential for 150,000 bottles vanished overnight. 12: Extremely dark purple with lilac and violet highlights. Currently reserved, yet compact and very deep with mocha tones, pumpernickel; the fruit shows beautifully ripe. Intense palate, aromatic, showing ripe yet finely peppery tannins, long and classic, very profound. With this great La Cabanne, in 10 years you could explain the terroir of Pomerol to an oenological greenhorn in the simplest way. (18/20). 12: Medium‑dark garnet, saturated center. Aromatic bouquet, half‑open, somewhat reminiscent of the good old days; the fruit seems ripe and shows a red‑cherry Piedmont sweetness. On the palate compact, with good flesh and a demanding, for a Pomerol masculine, astringency. A food Pomerol that needs a good 10 years of bottle age. At least.

Fruity, deep, floral bouquet, red cassis, blackberries, smoke. Classic, masculine palate with good fruit, good, angular tannins, spicy, bitter aromatics, long, dry finish with good lingering flavors. 18/20 2017 - 2035

Great depth on the nose as well as on the palate, with notes of dark fruit and exemplary harmonious density.

Dense attack, firm mid-palate, good depth, moderately tannic, slightly dry finish.

The 2010 bouquet shows freshness and depth. It reveals itself step by step through nuances of graphite, mint, and plum. The wine has character, robust tannins, and a supportive structure that provide a solid backbone to this Pomerol. It convinces in its current form, with the ability to sit confidently at 15 years of age while claiming at least another 20 years of cellaring potential. At the same time, it’s just emerging from its adolescence!

93-95 Complex wine, its ripe Merlot character structured with tannins, a solid dark core, ripely balanced and intense. The acidity is already well integrated. With this structure, the wine should have a good future.