Allen Meadows - Score: 95 (2007 October)

This is more expressive than usual, featuring a hint of wood spice and the usual gorgeously elegant cool green fruit, oyster shell and saline notes that introduce unusually big and powerful flavors that are naturally sweet, intense and like the majority of these '05s, possesses buckets of dry extract. The finish just oozes with minerality and the intensity is almost painful as it really stains the palate. I noted last year that there was marvelous quality here and there was so much material that it could be even better than my range suggested. Well, I agree with my initial prediction as the Valmur is indeed better in bottle than it was from cask and a flat out magnificent wine.