Michael Schuster: Ample ripe fruit to smell, black cherry, mineral, roasted warmth, and new oak; rich, generous, fleshy wine, finely, firmly tannic; deep in warm ripe black fruit, long and powerful to taste, clear mineral aromas, a touch of warmth and faint bitterness, long across the palate—tenacious, mouth-coating, almost a slightly peppery character, subtly refined fruit within the firm frame, and very long to finish, with an almost bittersweet persistence. Powerful, though without coarseness, but a wine one feels will need to be tamed by time. Very different from the effortlessly graceful, mesmerizing, and perfumed delicacy of the 2008. The 2009 is wilder in personality, big, structured and muscular alongside its refinement. At least 15 years in bottle required. 2025-40. 17.5/18

Michel Bettane and Thierry Desseauve: A blend of 53% Cabernet Franc and 47% Merlot, the wine is immensely pure, with elegant length stylishly displaying the exceptional freshness of Cabernet Franc. The wine is already quite complex and wonderfully long on the palate. 19.5