Leoville Poyferre 2010 (1.5L)

100 JD / 98+ RP / 98 JA / 98 WE / 97 VM / 97 JS /18 JR

Pure gold, the 2010 Château Léoville Poyferré, which was drunk beside a perfect 2009 Latour, offers everything you could want from wine. Sporting a deep purple hue as well as an incredible array of crème de cassis, graphite, damp earth, leafy tobacco, and beautifully integrated oak, it hits the palate with an incredible amount of fruit and opulence while always staying pure, precise, and as seamless as they come. It shows the density and power of the 2010 vintage, but it’s remarkable in its balance, purity, and length. As with most 2010s today, it's still youthful and certainly in its early drinking plateau and has another 40-50 years of prime drinking. - Jeb Dunnuck

The wine out distances both Leoville Las Cases and Leoville Barton, but all three of them are compelling efforts. Full-bodied, dense purple in color, with floral notes intermixed with blackberries, cassis, graphite and spring flowers, this full-bodied, legendary effort is long and opulent, with wonderfully abundant yet sweet tannin, a skyscraper-like mid-palate and a thrilling, nearly one-minute finish. This spectacular effort from Poyferre that should drink well for 30+ years. Robert Parker, Wine Advocate

This has depth, texture, power, the generosity of Poyferré with the slow steely progression of the vintage - a brilliant mix of the two. Cassis, bilberry, cigarbox, curling woodsmoke, bitter chocolate, rosemary, blue fruit, coffee. There is clear acidity here but it is matched pace for pace by fleshy textured fruit and slate, tugging, slowed-down tannins. Harvest October 1 to 18. 80% new oak. – Jane Anson, Inside Bordeaux

A wine of architectural strength and classical proportions, this has straight lines that mark the packed, concentrated fruits, which are sustained by its tannins. This is certainly the best wine that Léoville-Poyferré has produced, sumptuous while so finely structured.- RV, Wine Enthusiast

The 2010 Léoville-Poyferré has a very intense bouquet with blackberry, briary cedar and light estuarine/seaweed aromas that are very well defined. Pure class. The palate is medium-bodied with fine-grain tannins, layers of pure black fruit laced with pencil lead and a pinch of white pepper. It fans out wonderfully towards the finish, a Saint-Julien demonstrating wonderful density and precision. What an outstanding wine, perhaps less flamboyant than other vintages, one that will last decades. Tasted blind at Farr Vintners 10-Year On Bordeaux horizontal. - Neal Martin, Vinous Media

Opulent aromas of blackberry, black cherry and orange peel follow through to a full body with round, creamy tannins and a flavorful finish. A big, significant wine that is starting to open and come around. A long life ahead of it. Drink or hold. James Suckling

Really opulent – concentrated and ripe and expressive. Shows off the vintage: pure, pixel-perfect fruit. As such, it has a sort of sheen that could almost use a bit of roughing around the edges, but it remains an immaculate example of the left bank in 2010. – Richard Hemming MW, JancisRobinson.com