2000 Château La Fleur de Gay

A strong effort, and certainly the best La Fleur de Gay since the wonderful duo of 1989 and 1990, this dense ruby/purple-colored 2000 exhibits notes of melted licorice intermixed with cocoa and sweet black currants, minerals, and a hint of blueberries. The wine is elegant and medium to full-bodied, with sweet, concentrated fruit, tremendous pinpoint precision to its personality, outstanding purity, and a 40-45 second finish. However, some patience will be required because of high tannin levels.

Author: Robert Parker

Medium ruby. Sappy, liqueur-like aromas of red berries, coffee, mocha, leather and sexy oak. Silky-sweet and vibrant, with a layered texture and excellent verve for the vintage. A fairly powerful, structured, minerally version of this wine, already showing lovely inner-mouth aromatic complexity. Finishes very long and fresh, with perfectly buffered tannins. Yields were cut dramatically in 2000, and it shows.

Author: Stephen Tanzer

Issue: May/June 2002

Rich, ripe, opulent, br–l‚e, almost overripe nose, then impressively ripe fruit - black/purple fruit - mulberries. On the palate, surprisingly, not at all hot. Quite a light finish, with a little bit of inkiness and rusty nails. Masses of quite rough tannins. Not a whole. Dry (as opposed to sweet) finish. Still very young. Relatively cool.

Author: Jancis Robinson

Terrific red. Classy, with coffee, berry and licorice aromas and flavors. Full-bodied, with silky, caressing tannins and a solid core of ripe, yet subtle fruit. Solid wine here. Very close to the 1998 in quality. 785 cases made.