Tour Carnet 2008

Haut Medoc, Fourth Growth

Excel download

View All Vintages of this Wine

Units Size Case size GBP Price: Quantities Buy
Tasting Notes

Charming aromas of ripe blueberry, cherry, spice and earth. Lovely balanced claret with good texture and well-integrated tannic grounding. A seductive Médoc. 17pts/20

Score: 17

Decanter, Decanter.com Maturity: 2014-2022 01 January 2012

Dark red. Aromatic nose offers plum, incense and licorice. Plush, smooth and seamless, with dark berry, ripe redcurrant and menthol flavors complemented by sexy oak tones. Sweet and approachable but serious, and full for this wine. Youthful tannins should give it a decade of longevity.

Score: 89

Stephen Tanzer, International Wine Cellar 01 July 2011

A sleeper of the vintage, the 2008 exhibits a dense plum/purple color along with loads of sweet berry fruit, black cherries, licorice and camphor intermixed with hints of mocha and oak. Reminiscent of La Lagune, the texture is plush, round, generous and irresistible. Drink this pure, impressively endowed 2008 over the next 10-14 years.

Score: 91

Robert Parker, Wine Advocate, RobertParker.com 03 May 2011

Another sleeper of the vintage, this blend of 52% Merlot and 48% Cabernet Sauvignon was cropped at a low 33 hectoliters per hectare, and the harvest was accomplished between October 7-25. The 2008 may turn out to be the best wine of the modern era, but the 2001, 2005, and 2006 are very strong. The 2008 exhibits loads of cassis, lead pencil shavings, spice box, and hints of cedar as well as herbs in its complex aromatics. The wine possesses outstanding texture, superb purity, good freshness (because of higher than normal acids), and ripe, long tannin. It is almost an anomaly to have tannins this ripe with acids this crisp. Deep, rich, and full-bodied, the 2008 La Tour Carnet should evolve over the next twenty years. Bernard Magrez told me he had 35 people working on the triage tables. The vinification is very classic, somewhat Burgundian in style, with small wood fermentors, manual pigeage (punching down), and everything flowing by gravity with little exposure to oxygen or any traumatic force

Score: 90 - 93

Robert Parker, Wine Advocate, RobertParker.com Maturity: 2009-2029 30 April 2009

A perfumy red, with floral, candied cherry and vanilla flavors supported by a solid frame of tannins and fresh acidity. Balanced and harmonious, with a clean, sweet finish. Drink now through 2017. 20,830 cases made.

Score: 88

Winespectator.com, Wine Spectator Maturity: 2011-2017 31 March 2011

Leafy but not unripe. Soft, gentle, generally unremarkable, even though it is richer than some in this Haut-Médoc flight. Overall still a little insubstantial but easy.

Score: 16

Julia Harding MW, JancisRobinson.com Maturity: 2013-2020 11 November 2010

En primeur barrel sample. Extraordinarily ripe on the nose: there is a touch of tinned prune and fig on the nose. Very ripe and toasty on the palate, lacks a little acidity, showy and extrovert but lacking finesse and tension on the finish. Perhaps it will improve or mellow after bottling? Mouth-puckering finish. Tasted March 2009.

Score: 86 - 88

Neal Martin, Wine Advocate, RobertParker.com 01 May 2009

Blackish crimson. Sweet, opulent, late picked but a very slight lack of freshness. Clean, brisk finish. Just a little more interest and lift wouldn’t come amiss - all texture rather than flavour at the moment.

Score: 15 - 16

Jancis Robinson MW, JancisRobinson.com Maturity: 2013-2018 01 April 2009