La Tache 2008

La Tache / DRC

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Tasting Notes
Good medium-deep red. Knockout high-pitched nose shows great lift to its aromas of raspberry, rose petal and Oriental spices. Silky-sweet, supple and highly concentrated but very tightly coiled today. Saturates the entire palate without exerting any impression of weight. Wonderfully suave, plush wine with superb energy on the very long, vibrating finish. (95+ points) Score: 95 Stephen Tanzer, International Wine Cellar 01 March 2011
Bright pinky ruby. Light fresh cedary spice, sightly stemmy, and a restrained cherry fruit. There’s also something in the aroma that reminds me slightly of molasses - not sweet but a sort of bitter sweetness. Delicate leafy note even though it is fully ripe. Savoury, dry and extremely elegant on the palate. Very very fine-grained, paper-fine, mouthwateringly fresh tannin/acid balance. Less apparent density than the Richebourg and the Romanée-St-Vivant but amazingly persistent. (JH) Score: 18 - 19 Julia Harding MW, JancisRobinson.com Maturity: 2020-2030 01 February 2011
This takes a while to get going because like the Richebourg, this is initially reduced so you'll need to decant it if you're going to sacrifice a young wine on the altar of curiosity. After aggressive swirling, a highly expressive and kaleidoscopic nose offers up a dazzling breadth of aromas with more rose petal and violet notes combining with those of kirsch, herb and humus, all of which are reflected by the ripe, pure and extremely fresh silkily-textured big-bodied flavors that possess firm tannins that are completely enrobed by the impressive amount of extract that also coats the mouth on the hugely long and ever-so-slightly minty finish. The '08 La Tâche is not an especially powerful wine by its standards and it's more like a gymnast with its sleek muscularity. That said and again like the Richebourg, all of the structural elements are not yet in perfect balance but the sheer length of the finish is immense, which is always a very positive sign. Score: 96 Allen Meadows, Burghound Maturity: 2030+ 01 January 2011
From barrel, the 2008 La Tache displays intensely ripe, berry-tart concentration of cassis, red currant, and blackberry, wreathed in musky floral perfume, and backed not only by marrowy meat stock richness, but by a deep, oceanic melange of alkaline, saline, mineral and animal elements that brought to mind Romanee St.-Vivant. Seamlessly sweet, subtly silken, and vibrantly bright, this finishes explosively, with tactile impingement of black pepper and brown spices adding to its brashly fresh fruit and mineral intensity. There is a striking transparency on display here, in the sense that floral, spicy, maritime, and stony elements seem to shimmer through the fruit. When I remark on this aspect, de Villaine points out that "the selection in the vineyard and press house was intense and impeccable" which, he suggests, also goes a long way toward accounting for the wine’s degree of tannic refinement. Needless to say, I am sure this wine’s active life span will be measured in decades, not years. Score: 96 - 97 David Schildknecht, Wine Advocate, RobertParker.com 01 June 2010
Very, very dark. Just one whiff was enough to remind me of the special nature of Vosne’s Grands Crus. Nervy, almost fragile, vibrato. Full, broad, mushroomy and very intense. Violet-scented, ‘feminine’ and lush. There is no shortage of ripe tannin on the finish but it’s very fleshy initially. This should certainly make great old bones. Lots of fruit purity on the finish. Long and linear. Score: 18 - 19 Jancis Robinson MW, JancisRobinson.com Maturity: 2018-2032 19 January 2010

Tasting Notes

Good medium-deep red. Knockout high-pitched nose shows great lift to its aromas of raspberry, rose petal and Oriental spices. Silky-sweet, supple and highly concentrated but very tightly coiled today. Saturates the entire palate without exerting any impression of weight. Wonderfully suave, plush wine with superb energy on the very long, vibrating finish. (95+ points)

Score: 95

Stephen Tanzer, International Wine Cellar 01 March 2011

Bright pinky ruby. Light fresh cedary spice, sightly stemmy, and a restrained cherry fruit. There’s also something in the aroma that reminds me slightly of molasses - not sweet but a sort of bitter sweetness. Delicate leafy note even though it is fully ripe. Savoury, dry and extremely elegant on the palate. Very very fine-grained, paper-fine, mouthwateringly fresh tannin/acid balance. Less apparent density than the Richebourg and the Romanée-St-Vivant but amazingly persistent. (JH)

Score: 18 - 19

Julia Harding MW, JancisRobinson.com Maturity: 2020-2030 01 February 2011

This takes a while to get going because like the Richebourg, this is initially reduced so you'll need to decant it if you're going to sacrifice a young wine on the altar of curiosity. After aggressive swirling, a highly expressive and kaleidoscopic nose offers up a dazzling breadth of aromas with more rose petal and violet notes combining with those of kirsch, herb and humus, all of which are reflected by the ripe, pure and extremely fresh silkily-textured big-bodied flavors that possess firm tannins that are completely enrobed by the impressive amount of extract that also coats the mouth on the hugely long and ever-so-slightly minty finish. The '08 La Tâche is not an especially powerful wine by its standards and it's more like a gymnast with its sleek muscularity. That said and again like the Richebourg, all of the structural elements are not yet in perfect balance but the sheer length of the finish is immense, which is always a very positive sign.

Score: 96

Allen Meadows, Burghound Maturity: 2030+ 01 January 2011

From barrel, the 2008 La Tache displays intensely ripe, berry-tart concentration of cassis, red currant, and blackberry, wreathed in musky floral perfume, and backed not only by marrowy meat stock richness, but by a deep, oceanic melange of alkaline, saline, mineral and animal elements that brought to mind Romanee St.-Vivant. Seamlessly sweet, subtly silken, and vibrantly bright, this finishes explosively, with tactile impingement of black pepper and brown spices adding to its brashly fresh fruit and mineral intensity. There is a striking transparency on display here, in the sense that floral, spicy, maritime, and stony elements seem to shimmer through the fruit. When I remark on this aspect, de Villaine points out that "the selection in the vineyard and press house was intense and impeccable" which, he suggests, also goes a long way toward accounting for the wine’s degree of tannic refinement. Needless to say, I am sure this wine’s active life span will be measured in decades, not years.

Score: 96 - 97

David Schildknecht, Wine Advocate, RobertParker.com 01 June 2010

Very, very dark. Just one whiff was enough to remind me of the special nature of Vosne’s Grands Crus. Nervy, almost fragile, vibrato. Full, broad, mushroomy and very intense. Violet-scented, ‘feminine’ and lush. There is no shortage of ripe tannin on the finish but it’s very fleshy initially. This should certainly make great old bones. Lots of fruit purity on the finish. Long and linear.

Score: 18 - 19

Jancis Robinson MW, JancisRobinson.com Maturity: 2018-2032 19 January 2010

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