2010 Domus Aurea

Winemaker Jean-Pascal Lacaze went as far as telling me that 2010 could be a too perfect vintage for Domus Aurea, and the wine does not display the wild character usually identified with it. Let me tell you, for me the wine is simply fantastic. The 2010 Domus Aurea comes from an almost perfect vintage for Maipo that translated into wines with a long aging potential. The wine is always Cabernet-based but contains some 15% other Bordeaux grapes, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and Merlot from their vineyards panted in the 1970s. The nose is subtle, still very young for a wine that has been in bottle for a while; it's not primary but it has not yet developed tertiary arms, there are just bare hints of complexity and development, all of it in a very subtle way, much more elegant and controlled than other vintages. But if the nose is elegant, it is in the palate where you perceive the class of this wine, where everything fits perfectly like in a Swiss watch -- precise, harmonious but at the same time vibrant and deep. It has great freshness. This has the components and the balance to have a long and positive evolution in bottle. I need to taste all of the vintages together (one day...), but so far, this is my favorite vintage ever. At this price level, it has to be one of the cheapest great wines in the world. Super! 25,605 bottles produced. It was bottled in January 2012. Dec 2015, www.robertparker.com, Drink: 2016-2030