Exceptional vintage. Deepish red colour with brick-red tinges and good depth. Very complex, mellow, tobacco, vegetable and slightly animal aromas. This is an intense, vegetal, spicy, Rhone-like style with enormous character and volume of flavour. A spectacular wine. Big and generous, very long palate and hugely satisfying. Concentration galore, but perhaps lacks the elegance of the best of them. Will be very long-lived.

96 points, The Real Review (March 2013)

Medium to full purple-red; a clean and rich array of black berries, spice, licorice and compatible oak, then a palate with abundant dark berry and bitter chocolate flavour, with controlled tannins and oak. Has great length and great balance; fully reflects the outstanding vintage, and has an indefinite life in front of it if well-cellared.

www.winecompanion.com.au

Bright red-ruby. Explosive if idiosyncratic aromas of tobacco, pepper, black olive, mocha and hot stones. Pungent and penetrating, with compelling flavors of raspberry, tobacco, black olive, dried rose, mocha, herbs and spices, plus a strong underlying minerality (I was variously reminded of Lafite, Haut-Brion and Ausone!). Suave and perfumed in the mouth; wonderfully ripe but dry. Finishes with noble tannins and great palate-staining length and grip. This wine is not for everyone-and a good thing, too, since it's extremely limited-but it certainly flipped my switch. Negociants USA, Napa CA

www.vinous.com