Allen Meadows - Score: 97 ()

Subtle wood spice, violet, lavender, cassis, plum, tea and warm earth aromas combine to introduce incredibly rich, full-bodied, gorgeously complex and mouth coating flavors that possess near-perfect balance on the overtly powerful, sappy and explosively persistent mineral-driven finish. This is very firmly structured yet two important aspects render this entirely civilized: 1) the tannins are unusually fine-grained, and 2) there is so much dry extract present on the mid-palate that the backend does not possess its usual level of youthful austerity. Like the Romanée St. Vivant, this is textbook Riche built to last for decades.