2008 La Violette

Tasted at the Syndicat de Pomerol. This is a barn-storming, ostentatious rich, almost honeyed bouquet with mulberry, super-macerated black cherries and blueberry jam. The palate is almost Napa-like on the entry, with rounded, velvety, lush black fruits and layers of new oak on the creamy, generous finish. It you like hedonism – this is for you, but it lacks a bit of freshness and tension for myself. Tasted December 2010. Neal Martin, eRobertParker.com

Fashioned from yields of 18 hectoliters per hectare with 13.5% natural alcohol, the opaque ruby-hued 2008 exhibits tell-tale floral notes intertwined with raspberries, sweet black cherries, licorice and cassis. Medium to full-bodied, beautifully concentrated and strikingly pure as well as multilayered, the 2008, despite its precociousness, will benefit from 2-3 years of bottle age and keep for 20-25 years. It is one of the top successes of the vintage. May 2011, www.robertparker.com