JM.Quarin Laroze 2009

16.5
The best score I have given this wine en primeur
Laroze is an outsider in Saint-Emilion – you just need to take note of the quality today of the 2003, 2005 and 2008. So Guy Meslin continues to improve his quality patiently, thoughtfully and discretely. He clearly seeks to achieve long-term results: Laroze is often better at the end of ageing and in the bottle than as a primeur. I tasted all the separate batches very enthusiastically, then the final blend three times with the score this high.
The robe is dark, intense and pretty. The bouquet is elegant, fruity and subtly woody. It is initially smooth and melts in the mouth, then develops to become broad and juicy with finely chiselled texture. There is similar precision in how the fruit is expressed. The mid-palate is very juicy and the wine ends up full of flavour and impossible to spit out. It has a very strong impression of pulp and is more hedonistic than the 2005

A long, cold winter

A long, cold winter still with temperatures well below zero in the week from 7 to 13 March and morning frosts down to minus 7°C. This suits us fine, because it delays the start of growth in the vines and lessens the risk of damage from morning frosts in April. This year the April full moon falls late in the month and a last cold snap could always surprise us around the 28th, when it comes.