Hudelot-Noellat St. Vivant 2001 750mL

"Deep ruby. This is even more explosive than it was a year ago with seductive, very dark and expressive smoky black Vosne fruit that is laced through and through with anise, tea and seemingly endless variations of Oriental spice. The moderately structured flavors deliver a stunningly beautiful mix of spice, intensity and perfectly integrated structure. In short, this is a superb and very classy effort with terrific persistence. This is very close to its peak and could easily be drunk now with pleasure though I will probably hold my bottles for another few years first. Tasted several times with consistent notes save for one bottle that seemed a good deal oakier than the others and another that displayed distinct lactic notes. In August 2024 I also had an example that was badly corked." - Burghound, BH93, tasted 5/2012