1999 Chateau Peby-Faugeres Saint-Emilion Grand Cru – 100% Merlot grape
This opaque, purple-colored 1999 boasts a gorgeous nose of blueberry liqueur intermixed with cedar, spice box, coffee, and cassis. It is extremely supple-textured, spicy, with an expansive, savory, full-bodied palate, no hard edges, and a finish that lasts for nearly 35 seconds. This is an amazing wine for the vintage. It will be at its finest between 2003-2018. A brilliant effort! Rated 94 The Wine Advocate
1999 Chateau Barde-Haut Saint-Emilion Grand Cru – blend of 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc grapes
The outstanding 1999 Barde Haut is elegant, complex, savory, and hedonistic. A dark ruby/purple color is followed by copious quantities of black fruits intermixed with toasty oak and licorice. It is sweet and expansive, with low acidity, medium body, and a lush finish. Drink it over the next 10 years. Seductive stuff! Rated 89 The Wine Advocate
1999 Chateau Haut-Bergey Pessac-Leognan – blend of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon and 40% Merlot grapes
The 1999 Haut Bergey is a classic Graves. It is extraordinarily complex aromatically, light on its feet in the mouth as well as a model of elegance and symmetry. The color is dark ruby, and the splendid nose reveals notes of cigar tobacco intermixed with plum, cherry, and currant fruit, grilled herbs, and roasted nuts. It is medium-bodied, with sweet fruit on the attack, and an expansive Burgundian-like finish with light tannin and enough acidity to provide grip, freshness, and delineation. This terrific effort needs to be consumed during its first 7-12 years of life. Rated 90 The Wine Advocate
1999 Chateau Smith Haut-Lafite Pessac-Leognan – blend of 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 45% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Franc grapes
This is a sizable wine for the vintage, although I do not believe it will have the longevity of the 1998 or 2000. A deep ruby/purple color is accompanied by sweet, asphalt-tinged, earthy, cassis fruit with toasty pain grille notes in the background. There are loads of fruit and charm as well as a creamy texture revealing hints of tobacco, currants, and wood smoke. It is medium-bodied and supple-textured, and will provide ideal drinking over the next 12-15 years. Rated 90 The Wine Advocate
1999 Chateau Lynch Bages Pauillac Grand Cru – blend of Cabernet Sauvignon 73%, Merlot 15%, Cabernet Franc 10%, and Petit Verdot 2% grapes
A charming, lush, round, generous Lynch Bages, the 1999 offers plenty of sweet black currant fruit, damp earth, licorice, cedarwood and spicy herb-like characteristics. Medium-bodied, savory and broad in the mouth with no hard edges, this fully mature effort is a somewhat underrated vintage for this estate. Rated 90 The Wine Advocate
1999 Chateau Leoville Poyferre Saint-Julien – blend of 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot, 8% Petit Verdot, 2% Cabernet Franc grapes
A perfumed bouquet of flowers, jammy cassis, sweet oak, and truffles jumps from the glass of this ripe, classic, mid-weight claret. The wine is elegant rather than powerful. It possesses intense fruit, admirable ripeness as well as balance, and a long finish. Enjoy this beautiful, sexy Poyferre over the next 12-14 years. Rated 89 The Wine Advocate