2010 - Leoville Poyferre, Saint-Julien

Deep colour, luscious and powerful, has the push and pull of a truly great wine, where you are not exactly sure where you will land but you are fully along for the ride. Brilliant quality, precision, smoke, liquorice, cigar box, cassis, mint leaf etching, rippled with muscle, more Pauillac than St Julien in the 2010 vintage, with decades ahead of it. Great stuff, easily one of the wines of the tasting. 80% new oak. Harvest October 1 to 18.

The 2010 Léoville-Poyferré takes the 2009 and ups the ante with brilliantly defined, intense black fruit. Perhaps it is just a little more "serious" compared to the previous vintage, but is finely chiseled and displaying more mineralité. The palate has mellowed since I last tasted it, developing more rondeur and a more caressing texture. Extremely pure in style, this fans out wonderful, fills the mouth and lingers for a minute. One of the highlights of Didier Cuvelier’s career, this has a long future ahead. "LP" just does not get better than this. Tasted at the Léoville-Poyferré vertical at the château with Sara Lecompte Cuvelier.

Medium to deep garnet-brick in color, the 2010 Leoville Poyferre is a little closed and broody to start, soon unfurling to offer glimpses at blackcurrant preserves, chocolate-covered cherries, and dried mulberries, plus wafts of tobacco, pencil lead, and smoked meats. Medium-bodied, the palate has a rock-solid frame of chewy tannins and oodles of freshness supporting the muscular fruit, finishing long and earthy.