3 | Wine | Burgundy, 2008

"Expressive aromas of orange, mirabelle and wild herbs. Very expressive, sweet and full (this is 13.7% alcohol), with flavors of very ripe peach, vanilla cream, nuts and honey. Very young and concentrated wine, but a bit youthfully blurry with alcohol on the finish today." Reviewed by Stephen Tanzer.

"Sexy nose combines dark berries, smoked meat and minerals. Creamy, layered and deep, with terrific energy and penetration and a powerful impression of extract. Finishes broad, sweet and very long. Showing spectacularly today." 92-95 pts. Reviewed by Stephen Tanzer.

"Captivating aromas of lemon, white flowers, hazelnut and fresh almond. Fairly large-scaled and round, but with terrific energy and a light touch to the exhilarating, sweet flavors of lemon cream, tangerine, orange oil and crushed stone. This goes way beyond the Jadot premier crus in volume, dimension and finesse. Finishes fine-grained and extremely long, with terrific lemony cut."

"Vibrant, precise aromas of lemon, fresh peach and nut oil. Then fine-grained, juicy and elegantly styled, with a captivating element of white flowers and perfectly integrated acidity." Reviewed by Stephen Tanzer.

"Nose dominated by lime, crushed stone and steely minerality. Densely packed and almost painfully dry, with taut, penetrating citrus and mineral flavors showing more energy than flesh today. This ungiving grand cru has plenty of depth and flavor intensity but is an infant today. The stony, austere finish is like touching a live wire. This seems every bit as steely as the estate's 2007 at the same stage but denser; in fact, this may be even more closed." Reviewed by Stephen Tanzer.

"Very ripe aromas of sweet stone fruits and clove. Very fat, rich and stuffed with fruit; a distinctly round style of Montrachet with an exotic aspect. This mounts impressively on the back end, finishing very rich and very long. The acidity is higher than that of the 2007, notes winemaker Jerome Faure-Brac, but so is the pH. And this is more generous." Reviewed by Stephen Tanzer.

"Captivating nose combines black raspberry, mocha, brown spices and crushed stone; a real essence of this vineyard. Then pliant, sexy and plush on the palate, with an almost liqueur-like sweetness and impressive volume. Conveys an impression of low acidity but minerality gives the wine energy. There's a creamy, tiny-cluster quality here that is perfectly suited to the style of this vintage." 91-94 pts. Reviewed by Stephen Tanzer.

"Very ripe yet high-pitched aromas of wet stone, hawthorn and botanical herbs. Broad, silky and sweet, with a three-dimensional quality to the superrich yet sharply delineated flavors of crushed stone, violet and lavender. Perhaps best today on the superb rising finish, where the wine's compelling vibrancy carries through. Another wine of great dimension. Lardiere used 60% new oak here, but the wood element is fully integrated and virtually invisible. Showing spectacularly well today, perhaps due in part to the fact that this wine finished its fermentation early." Reviewed by Stephen Tanzer.

"Pungent red berry and mocha aromas are lifted by powerful crushed-stone minerality and complicated by an ineffable floral/earthy perfume. A real essence of 2008 on the palate, with outstanding sappy cut and penetration to the flavors of cherry, red berries, minerals and spice oil. The building finish spreads out inexorably to saturate the palate. Rigorous and stimulating: a wine of extraordinary complexity, energy and depth. This was one of my top 2008s from barrel a year ago and it's at least as impressive in bottle."-Stephen Tanzer