Tom Casagrande

9.1

This second wine of 5th Growth Haut-Bages Liberal is a very nice and relatively good value Bordeaux. Nose is lovely and shows graphite, leafy cassis and berry fruit, warm gravel, and a waft of a sweet-adjacent baking spice note. Mouthfilling, and with surprisingly good acidity for an ‘18, the palate has nicely concentrated fruit and savory notes. Some soft but significant tannin packed away in the finish. This is drinking quite well now but will probably be better in a year or two. — 17 days ago

Victor Hsu

9.3

Smooth, round and delicious, with gentle tannins and woody, plummy spice. Lovely red Bordeaux—we could drink this all night. Still balanced after 27 years but its acids seem a bit faded. I would guess that it’s at a high plateau that may be gently dipping so my daughter Rachel, who owns this wine, needs to finish the rest of her stash within the next year. The vintage of this bottle is her birth year, and we laid down a half case along with another half case of Chateau Lynch Bages. Both bottles are now soft, special treats. We enjoyed the 1996 vintage with prime steak at the Palm Restaurant in downtown LA, celebrating her graduation from UCLA Law. Congratulations, Rachel! — 6 months ago

Stefan Dolhain

9.0

2019 vintage. An estate owned by the Cazes family (Lynch Bages, Haut Batailley). A blend of Merlot (50%), Cabernet Sauvignon (40%), Cabernet Franc (7%) and Petit Verdot (3%). Less flashy compared to the Capbern 2019 tasted yesterday, give it some time to open up. Even with the high Merlot percentage, it has more of a dark Cabernet Sauvignon personality with black fruit and a serious, slightly severe tannic backbone. Abv. 14,5 %. — 3 years ago

David T

Independent Sommelier/Wine Educator

9.4

For our reception, I packed a magnum of this in 2007 into my suitcase.. Same as it was that night, it is tonight. Every 750ml I/we have had since then has better than the magnum I brought. The magnum was good, but a touch broken down. This is in amazing shape. Storage is everything w/ wine of this age.

The nose was straight up brighter, aged fruit profile with mushrooms, sweetened led pencil & barnyard. Beautiful. Classic 80’s seminole Bordeaux. 48 years from inception & 46 years in bottle, amazing.

Happy anniversary Sofia! ❤️ you endlessly!

This is a perfect example of why I love Bordeaux. — 2 months ago

Stefan Dolhain

8.9

2019 vintage. From 30 hectares in Haut-Medoc, owned by the Quié family ( also Rauzan-Gassies and Croizet-Bages). A fine effort, showing that the Quié family is finally serious about quality, after decades of mediocrity. Much more evolved in colour compared to the 2019 Moulin de La Lagune tasted alongside. Ripe, slightly jammy fruit. Serve slightly cold to keep the high alcohol ( 15% abv.) in check. — a year ago

Patrick Peters

9.3

I really regret opening this and wish I had kept racked, but the fruit was bright, almost jammy. Light on tannins, alcohol medium, very smooth. Also a great French red. — 3 years ago

Stefan Dolhain

9.3

2019 vintage. Château Julia owns less than 1 hectare of Pauillac (65 are to be precise), situated between Latour and Lynch-Bages. They also produce a Haut-Médoc from 4,5 hectares.
Merlot dominates here (70%), with the remainder Cabernet Sauvignon. Therefore, it is no surprise to find some floral Margaux-like sexiness here. The wine has a solid stucture, but elegance prevails over power. Typically, only 3000 bottles produced. A hard find, but well worth the search. — 5 months ago

David Koenen

9.0

Sweet and plummy, pencil shavings, red pepper, tobacco, nicely balanced. It’s not like winter is coming for this wine, but autumn has definitely set in. Time to drink up. — 6 months ago

Stefan Dolhain

9.0

2016 vintage. Jean-Michel Cazes (owner of famous Pauillac Cru Classé Lynch-Bages and more recently Haut-Batailley) bought this Minervois estate in 2002. This is the "grand vin", a blend of 70% Syrah, 15% Carignan, 20% Grenache and 5% Mourvèdre. A very spicy concentrated wine that is more about power than finesse. The colour is still deep dark red with hardly any sign of evolution. Intense spicy nose. Bold and powerful with black fruit hidden in spices. Long peppery finish. Take no prisoners. Abv. 14,5%. — 2 years ago

Doug Powers

9.1

Solid older Bordeaux, great color, youthful, of course also showing some of the 1980s “Cordier Funk”, but complex, medium-long finish, lovely older Bordeaux!! (This followed a super-corked 1986 Haut-Bages-Liberal, which was a freaking drain pour!!) — 3 years ago

with Jim