Chateau Larcis Ducasse, St Emilion Grand Cru, 2010, 750ml

The wine boasts 14.6% natural alcohol and is a final blend of roughly three-fourths Merlot and the rest Cabernet Franc, cropped at a ridiculously low 19 hectoliters per hectare. Notes of licorice, garrigue, incense, smoked meats, espresso, creme de cassis and blackberry liqueur jump from the glass of this unbelievably intense wine. Remarkably full, with compelling freshness and precision, this is a fabulous effort in 2010. It will probably close down over the next several years, and not re-emerge for at least a decade, something that often happens with the bigger, richer, more muscular St.-Emilions from the limestone hillsides and plateaux. This is one of the superstars of the vintage and a profound wine. Drink it between 2020 and 2045.

By any standard of measure, this is the second greatest wine I have ever tasted from Larcis Ducasse, eclipsed only by the perfect 2005. Winemaker Nicolas Thienpont, with Stephane Derenoncourt in the background, have hit pay dirt with this 2010 from Larcis-Ducasse's vineyard of 28 or so acres of the famous Cote Pavie's decomposed limestone.

Score: 98+, Robert Parker,
Wine Advocate (205), March 2013