Robert Parker’s scores for Bordeaux 2012 in bottle were released on the Wine Advocate this afternoon. Back in 2013, Parker observed that “while 2012 is not a great vintage, it is an excellent one in Pomerol, Pessac-Léognan and for some St.-Emilions”. This continues to be reflected in his in-bottle scores, with the highest scoring wines coming from Pessac-Léognan and Pomerol.
The wine of the vintage, Haut Brion, was awarded 98 points after being initially awarded 93-95 points in barrel. Parker noted that, “the wine shows subtle barbecue smoke notes in the background, but is full-bodied, stunningly concentrated and builds incrementally, yet finishes with luxurious, almost extravagant amounts of fruit and intensity.”
Mission Haut Brion also showed well: it was upgraded from a barrel range of 91-94 to 97 points in bottle.
Encouragingly, a number of more affordable brands also saw upgrades of several points. This included Haut Batailley (92 points, up from a barrel range of 85-87), which was described as “dramatically better from bottle than barrel … bigger boned, richer and more flamboyant than this wine normally tends to be”.
Grand Puy Ducasse moved from 84-86 to 90, while Issan was upgraded from 87-89 to 95 and Alter Ego moved from 88-90 to 93.
To view Parker’s full in-bottle scores and read the interesting accompanying report, visit www.erobertparker.com
