NV FINE+RARE Showcase #2

<strong> 2007 L'Eglise Clinet</strong>: <em>“ Unquestionably the Pomerol of the vintage, the dense purple-colored 2007 l’Eglise-Clinet offers an astonishing display of rich, licorice and caramel-infused kirsch, black raspberry, and cassis fruit. Rich, full-bodied, and pure, with low acidity and ripe tannin, it is already offering delicious drinking, and should continue to do so for 15-20 years. Having just had the 1997, which is not as strong a wine as this 2007, that wine, from a very mediocre vintage, is still young. Kudos to proprietor Denis Durantou..”</em> <strong>94 points, Robert Parker</strong>, Apr 2010, www.robertparker.com<br><br><strong> 2007 Vieille Julienne Châteauneuf du Pape</strong>: <em>“ With no Reserve bottling in the vintage, the 2007 Chateauneuf du Pape incorporates all of the top plots of the estate. An incredible wine that’s always performed brilliantly any time I’ve opened a bottle, it gives up layered, ripe aromas and flavors of black raspberry, crushed violets, black licorice and graphite (the wine see only very old foudre and no new oak? ever) to go with a voluptuous, concentrated and structured personality. While there’s no shortage of tannin here, they’re sweet, polished and integrated. Give it another year or two and drink it over the following decade.”</em> <strong>96 points, Jeb Dunnuck</strong>, Aug 2014, www.robertparker.com<br><br><strong> 2007 Bouchard Père & Fils Vigne de l'Enfant Jésus</strong>: <em> “This is a big step up in aromatic complexity if not aromatic elegance with cool and very fresh red and dark berry fruit, earth, stone and animale nose that precedes delicious, round and generous flavors that possess equally good depth on the intense, mouth coating and superbly long finish. This is a wine of harmony with a sense of completeness about it that gives it a Zen-like feel.”</em> <strong>90-93 points, Allen Meadows</strong>, Apr 2009, www.burghound.com<br><br><strong> 2007 Graham's Vintage Port</strong>: <em> “A candidate for wine of the vintage, the 2007 Graham’s Vintage Port is complete in every way. Opaque purple-colored, it offers up an ethereal perfume of smoke, mineral, Asian spices, incense, an amalgam of ripe black fruits, and a hint of chocolate in the background. This leads to a dense, super-rich, plush, opulent wine that hides its structure under all the fruit. Vibrant, impeccably balanced, and exceptionally lengthy, it will easily age for another 25-30 years in the cellar and drink well through 2050, probably longer. It is a tour de force..”</em> <strong>97 points, Wine Advocate</strong>, Feb 2010, www.robertparker.com<br><br><strong> 2007 Paolo Scavino Barolo Monvigliero</strong>: <em> “Scavino's 2007 Barolo Monvigliero is by far the most concentrated, rich and structured Barolo I have ever tasted from this historic vineyard in Verduno. Firm yet polished tannins frame an explosive core of dark red fruit, rose petals, mint and spices. The Monvigliero shows marvelous focus and intensity. It is one of the most tannic wines of the vintage, but also one of the most promising. Sweet, floral notes leave a lasting impression on the vivid, textured finish. Scavino's Monvigliero will be a fascinating wine to follow, although I fear it may require significant patience. This is a marvelous debut vintage. Anticipated maturity: 2017-2032.”</em> <strong>94+ points, Antonio Galloni</strong>, Feb 2011, www.robertparker.com<br><br><strong>2007 Hegarty Chamans Black Knight</strong>: The Hegarty-Chamans 2007 Minervois Black Knight features - as it did in 2005 - a tiny lot of exceptionally ripe Syrah, here blended with 30% Grenache and 20% Carignan, and kept in new barriques for just under two years. High-toned distillate and confiture of cassis, black raspberry, and boysenberry inform an effusive nose and lush palate. Deep, meaty richness along with notes of thyme, licorice, and brown spices adeptly compliment the intensely ripe fruit, and a bottle open for a few hours not only displayed even greater intensity of fruit and spice, but more fully revealed the mineral dimension to this cuvee, incorporating smoky notes of peat and black tea; crushed stone; and saliva-inducing salinity. There is an abundance of primary fruit juiciness and a vibrancy of fruit, mineral, and spice interaction here that are uncommon for a wine that possesses such a pronounced sense of confitured and distilled berries, let alone for one that spent so long in cask. (In this last respect, the contrast with the corresponding "No. 1" could hardly, unfortunately, be much greater.) This should be riveting to follow for at least the better part of a decade. (There will be no Black Knight bottling from either 2008 or 2009.)"</em> <strong>93 points, Wine Advocate</strong>, Feb 2010, www.robertparker.com