2004 La Tour Carnet

Dark, ripe and slightly toffeed on the nose. Plenty of savoury spice and oaky mocha. Thick firm tannins but still juicy and surprisingly fresh after the nose. Still seems pretty youthful but I wonder if the firmness of the tannins is too much oak rather than just youth? Finishes tough.  (JH)

Like most recent vintages have been, the 2004 La Tour Carnet is a big time sleeper of the vintage. Owned by Bordeaux visionary Bernard Magrez, this chateau is fashioning beautifully structured wines with superb concentration and intensity. The deep ruby/purple-hued 2004 offers up beautiful aromas of flowers, creme de cassis, smoke, and pain grille. Medium to full-bodied with excellent purity, low acidity, and moderately high tannin, this stunning effort should be at its peak between 2011-2024+.

Quite dense and rich and very well constructed with good liveliness as well as ripe fruit. (JR)