94 Points | International Wine Cellar , May/June 2005

($75; racked in the spring of 2004 for the first time and bottled 20 months after the harvest) Wild, gamey aromas of dried fruits, honey, smoke, truffle and nuts. Less fruit-driven and more minerally in the mouth than the younger 2003, with terrific fat and depth. Here the acids have been integrated into the wine. With aeration, this wine showed hints of exotic fruits as well as firmer notes of lemon and grapefruit. "During the wine's second year in barrel, we get rid of the primary fruit and get down to the bones of the wine," says Kongsgaard. Not surprisingly, last year I described the then-unfinished 2002 as a fruit bomb and noted that the bottled 2001 was more minerally in character! Distinctly tannic on the finish. A wine of vendange tardive-like texture and ripeness.

95 Points | Robert Parker's The Wine Advocate