The 2001 Clos de Tart is aging beautifully and is maturing into one of Sylvain Pitiot’s finest wines. Replicating its performance in 2010, it has a very expressive bouquet of vivacious red berry fruit: wild strawberry and raspberry, laced with minerals and dried rose petals. The palate is very well-balanced and full of succulent brambly red fruit. Perhaps it is moving into its secondary phase less slowly than I anticipated, with nuanced undergrowth notes developing toward the finish, which remains very fruit-driven and tense. There is a sense of style and class to this Clos de Tart, a grand cru bound to age with those same attributes over the following decade and beyond. Drink now-2024+. Tasted January 2014. Apr 2014, www.robertparker.com
Neal MartinScore: 94/100
Extremely ripe aromas of roasted earth, coffee, spice and intensely perfumed black cherries combine with very structured, robust, remarkably complex and precise, full-bodied, sweet, chewy flavors that seem to go on and on. But the quality that impresses me the most is with all of this muscle and power, there is near perfect harmony and balance. This should be capable of aging well for at least two decades. A great wine Allen Meadows, Burghound 01/01/2004
Allen Meadows, BurghoundScore: 93/100
The 2001 Clos de Tart, from a more difficult vintage, bursts from the glass with spice-laden black fruit. Medium-bodied, elegant, and powerful, it bastes the palate with plump waves of blackberries, spices, and cassis. Notes of tar can be discerned in its cinnamon, dark fruit, clove, and black cherry-laden lengthy finish. This hugely spicy wine should be drunk over the next 7-8 years. Pierre Rovani, Wine Advocate # 153
The Wine AdvocateScore: 92/100