Neal Martin has published his first three instalments of en-primeur tasting notes and – like his peers – he salutes 2010 as one of Bordeaux’s “great” vintages. Though the latest Lafite left the critic unmoved (95-97), he claims that Mouton Rothschild is this year’s tour de force and judged the wine a candidate for perfection at 98-100 points:
“The palate is true to the style of both Pauillac and Mouton: a little flamboyant, flirtatious, opulent and seductive and yet underneath lie some of the finest tannins you could hope to meet and a backbone that will see it age effortlessly over the coming years…If you have got money to burn and require just one First Growth in 2010, then it must be this."
Margaux and Haut Brion have yet to be rated, but the critic awarded the “strict, aristocratic” Latour 96-98+ points, down from 98-100 last year. Lafite 2010, he suggests, missed the mark and was “a much more broody, introspective wine… I did not find the wine speaking to me like Mouton or Latour, it stayed in fourth rather than fifth gear.”
Outside the First Growths, Montrose (96-98), Lynch Bages (95-97) and Cos d’Estournel (96-98) were all named as favourites, whilst the latest release from Grand Puy Lacoste could be "the greatest…ever made" (97-99).
Source: erobertparker.com
