Rol Valentin 1999 (750ML)

89 WA / 88 VM

This is an opulent, sexy, modern-style St. Emilion possessing deep, super-ripe black cherry and cassis fruit, smoke, and character in a medium-bodied, lush format. It tasted better from bottle than it did out of barrel. The finish is excellent-Robert Parker, The Wine Advocate

Full medium ruby. Spicy aromas of raspberry, blackberry, coffee and Cuban tobacco, with roasted fruit and animal elements. Less sweet and dense than the subsequent vintages but offers a silky texture and complex flavors of dark berries and tobacco, as well as very good vinosity. The tannins, though, are less tender than those of the 2000 and currently shorten the wine's fruit. Most of this wine is from Prissette's holding in St. Etienne de Lisse, as the parcels around his home (not far from La Dominique) were hard-hit by hail.-Stephen Tanzer, Vinous Media