Chateau de Barbe Blanche
Merlot, etc.
Cuvee Henri IV
Lussac St.-Emilion, Gironde, France
1998
12.5%
$19.95 -- Total Wine, Durham, NC
Color: Dark strawberry
Nose: Blueberry, mint
Body: Full
Front: Berries
Middle: Leather, clove
Back: Mocha, smoke, more berries
Burns clean?: Mostly
Cap: Cork
A couple of years ago I bought this wine and loved it. I put a few in the cellar and this one I wrote "2008" on at some wine-illuminated moment of planning for the future. It's a really great wine: complex, old-world, structured, and slow to reveal its beauties. After it had been open about 2 hours it finally relaxed into its full richness, where it stayed for a long time. So I think this one will age even more.
