Tasting Notes
Vinous 90
Medium red-ruby. Black cherry, licorice, minerals, mint and violet on the nose. Then almost creamy in the mouth, delivering sweet flavors of dark berries, minerals and candied violet. Some tangy red berry notes emerge with aeration, providing lift and focus, but there’s an enticing plumpness of texture here. Finishes with very good length and lift, lovely balance and plenty of early appeal.
Robert Parker 93
The 2010 La Chapelle de la Mission, which includes the production from the now-extinct La Tour Haut-Brion vineyard, is a blend of 47% Cabernet Sauvignon, 27% Merlot and the rest Cabernet Franc, which is a high percentage for the latter grape. Fleshy, succulent and opulent along the lines of the 2009 (which did surprise me ), it is a big wine, with boatloads of glycerin and a classic Graves character of scorched earth, burning embers, charcoal, and plenty of black cherry and black currant fruit. The glycerin level is high, the fruit level impressive, and the purity and texture endearing. Drink it over the next 15 or so years.
Anticipated maturity: 2013-2028