Petrus 2010

It’s amazing how the Pétrus team manages, even in such a year of extremes, to bottle a wine that first stands out for its personality and its distinctive, floral aromatic profile. Of course, it also has plenty of fire and richness, perfectly balanced by a fresh, compact texture.

This feels dense and unyielding now, with loads of grip supporting a dark, muscular and very backward core of bay leaf, tobacco, plum, blackberry and fig notes. Powerful, fresh and racy, with a tarry edge adding vivacity and drive to the lengthy, raspberry-dominated finish. The raspberry spine seems destined to win out after extended cellaring. Best from 2017 through 2035. 2,500 cases made.

96-98. Hugely full-bodied wine, with the ripest fruit, black plum juice and spice. The tannins are very dense, balanced of course with acidity. The end is beautiful, structured.

Maybe surprising to see a Pomerol that is so well-built that it is not anywhere near ready even at 10 years old, but this is Pétrus, a place that writes its own rules. The brushed silk exuberance is there, but hidden underneath a still-pulsating wall of tannins. You expect this level of concentration in Pauillac, so it is more of a surprise on the Right Bank, but here you are in no doubt that 2010 is an intellectual, demanding vintage that needs to be given time. You need to look to 2009 Pétrus to begin enjoying any time soon - this is structured, full of dark fruits, structured, savagely built, out to impress.

This Petrus has extraordinary balance and depth. It shows such elegance on the nose, with complex notes of black olives, dark fruits, and flowers. The palate is full and ultra-velvety, yet there is a cashmere-like quality to the texture. It takes your breath away. There's almost a Burgundian quality to the mouthfeel, taking you deep into the soil and captivating your attention. The greatest modern vintage of Petrus ever? Try after 2018.

The 2010 Petrus has a tough job following on from Le Pin in the sense that it is habitually more introspective, less flamboyant than its Pomerol counterpart. The bouquet is mercurial, initially quite rich and forward but then backing down, becoming more discreet with loam-tinged red fruit. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannins, plenty of ferrous red berry fruit and a broody finish. This is an intellectual Right Bank wine that constantly teases in the glass. Fabulous. Tasted blind at Farr Vintners 10-Year On Bordeaux horizontal.

At close to 14% ABV, (which is high for Petrus) the wine offers intense aromas of chocolate, truffle, minerality, earth, blackberry essence, plum liqueur, blueberry, flowers and black cherry liqueur with kirsch accents. Offering a beautiful sensation of lift and purity along with decadent textures, polished, dark berries, plums, bitter chocolate, fresh cherries on the palate. Seamless and expansive, everything was balanced and in harmony. The finish remains in your mouth for one full minute! There were 3, polished spit buckets in the room. This was Petrus. I did the right thing and put that wine right where it belonged.

Dark ruby with purple reflections and a subtle brightening on the rim. Delicate balsamic aromas with a hint of nougat in the background, with black truffle, sweet cherry, candied orange zest, subtle hints of spice and fine oak notes. The palate is juicy, with pleasant fruit, silkily textured tannins, perfectly proportioned and full of finesse, with a sweetly fruited, red berry finish that lingers for minutes. Already immensely seductive, simply great!

100% Merlot. 35 hl/ha. Deep purple-garnet. A peppery bouquet, very red-berry driven: redcurrants, red plums, then the fruit turns darker, with subtle plum notes and a hint of blackcurrant. It still feels quite raw at this stage, radiating nobility, but also an equally noble restraint. On the palate, it immediately shows its great class: dense extract, plenty of pulp at the core, rising astringency, coconut notes and fine vanillin, with a long, lingering finish. Rarely has a young Pétrus shown so much Burgundy affinity, both in flavour and in body. Vacillating between Richebourg, Romanée St. Vivant and Romanée Conti, and then once again tasting so distinctly of Pétrus. At the estate, construction work is underway: an underground cellar is being built where the Cabernet Franc parcel used to be. Meanwhile, the last two barrels of Cabernet Franc are ageing in the old barrel cellar. It is still not really known whether they will make it into the blend for Pétrus 2010. “Probably not!”, Olivier Berrouet said when I asked him.

100% Merlot. 35 hl/ha, so a normal crop. Deep purple-garnet, dense at the core with a violet sheen at the rim. Peppery bouquet, very red-berry driven, lots of redcurrant and red plum, then the fruit turns darker, with discreet plum notes and a hint of cassis; it still feels rather raw at this stage, radiating nobility but also an equally noble restraint. On the palate it immediately shows its great class: rich extract, plenty of fruit pulp at the core, rising astringency, coconut notes and fine vanillin, with a lingering finish. Not a Pétrus that charms straight away at the en primeur tasting. But here you have long-term insurance, and when valuing a vintage that is hard to taste, one is already used to a certain amount of fortune-telling. Rarely has a young Pétrus shown so much Burgundy affinity, in both flavour and body. Swaying back and forth between Richebourg, Romanée St. Vivant and Romanée Conti… and then—when you recall all the aromas once more—tasting, after all, so very much like Pétrus again. The estate is currently being renovated and, where the Cabernet Franc's parcel used to be, an underground cellar is being created. In the old barrel cellar, the last two barriques of Cabernet Franc are still ageing. Whether they will go into the blend for Pétrus 2010 is not yet really known. “Probably not!”, Olivier Berrouet said when I asked him. 11: Tasted Pétrus again in May. Now with press wine included, i.e., the original for later. It feels deeper and meatier than at the barrel tasting, with inky nuances and smoky contours underneath, lots of blackberry touch. Firm, full-bodied palate, an enormous amount of substance, fleshy with terrific acidity, energy and plenty of backbone. It radiates an almost legendary potential. 11: In October: plenty of elderberry, black currant, black pepper, liquorice, and behind that a wonderful, floral freshness. Velvety palate, staying in the blue- to black-berry register, then becoming more demanding—so, lots of potential.

(100% Merlot, 37 hl/ha) Deep, elegant, complex, fresh bouquet: blueberries, black cherries, fine plum notes, tobacco, currants, precious woods, coconut, mint. An elegant, multi-layered, fresh, balanced, tightly knit palate with a silky structure, plenty of fine tannin, dense, refined fruit, complex, fresh aromatics, and a very long, delicate yet full finish with superb echoing flavors. Can still improve. 19/20 2020 - 2045

A very floral, complex nose, with notes of peony and violet, a touch of Sichuan pepper and black cherry. The energetic tannin feels even fresher than in 2009. If the latter seems an obvious choice, 2010 reveals an incredible vibrancy—it's a unique style.

Made, as so often, from 100% Merlot, the wine shows an inky-black color and an intense, prodigious nose, bursting with a festival of spices. The palate is broad and spicy, with the phenomenal mouthfeel that defines the great Petrus wines; the tannins are fine yet plentiful, the texture silky, and the whole is full-bodied and wonderfully rich. Another immense success from Olivier Berrouet, who is clearly making a triumphant start after a truly great 2009. A monumental wine!

Logo on the cork: CB Deep, intense colour with a slight evolution. An intense nose with ripe, subtle fruit. Slightly firm when the glass is swirled. Silky on the attack, precise through the mid-palate and aromatic, with a slightly firm body; the wine develops juicy with a touch of oak, leading into a long, sappy and profound finish.

The harvest at Petrus took place between September 27 and October 12, and the 2010 finished at 14.1% natural alcohol, which is slightly lower than the 2009's 14.5%. The 2010 reminds me somewhat of the pre-1975 vintages of Petrus, a monster-in-the-making, with loads of mulberry, coffee, licorice and black cherry notes with an overlay of enormous amounts of glycerin and depth. Stunningly rich, full-bodied and more tannic and classic than the 2009, this is an awesome Petrus, but probably needs to be forgotten for 8-10 years. It should last at least another 50 or more. Someone told me recently that Petrus had a second wine, so I asked Olivier Berrouet, their young, talented administrator, whether that was true, and he flatly denied it, so if any Asian wine buyers are running across second wines of Petrus in Hong Kong or on mainland China, be warned – they are not genuine. Proprietor Jean Moueix, who I believe is in his late twenties, has taken over for his father, Jean-Francois, who has largely retired, and the younger Moueix has really pushed quality even higher at this renowned estate. Anyone visiting Pomerol would have undoubtedly noticed the renovations at Petrus, as it was once one of the most modest and humble buildings in the appellation. Moreover, I suspect that multi-millionaire/billionaire collectors will have about 50 years to debate over which vintage of Petrus turns out better, the 2009 or 2010. In a perfect world, most people would love to have a few bottles of each, or at least the opportunity to taste them once in a while, as they have become more of a myth than something real, but these wines do, in fact, exist!