Good deep red-ruby. Plum, currant, graphite, dark chocolate and potpourri spices on the sexy nose. Dense, sweet, suave and deep, with insidious intensity to the complex flavors of blackberry, tobacco leaf and graphite. Wonderfully silky and sweet for the vintage, finishing with very fine-grained tannins and lingering lead pencil and tobacco leaf flavors. The 2007 vintage doesn't get any better than this.

The wood element is important here, but it is based on a firm Cabernet Sauvignon structure, dry but rich tannins. The wine is a great success for the vintage, giving sweetness, ripe fruit that only shows light extraction, and dark plum and berry flavors. The feeling is of polished fruit and wood, rounded but always dense.

Focused and rich, showing blueberry, blackberry and dark licorice aromas, with hints of mineral and flowers. Full-bodied, with a seamless core of fruit and tannins. Long and caressing on the finish. Best after 2013. -JS

The 2007 Mouton Rothschild is a gorgeous wine, especially within the context of the vintage. Open, expressive aromatics and forward fruit make the 2007 an excellent choice for drinking now and over the next two decades or so. Although the 2007 is not an epic Mouton, it is without question one of the best recent vintages for current drinking. Smoke, tobacco, cedar and licorice add the closing shades of nuance. Warm weather resulted in an unusually early start to the growing season. Summer was not especially warm, but a hot, dry September pushed the raisins through the final phase of ripening. The blend is 81% Cabernet Sauvignon and 19% Merlot. Harvest took place between September 26 and October 11.

This Mouton is starting to show the complexity of an aged Mouton with truffles, dried strawberries and cherries. Full body, firm tannins and flavors of sous bois and mushrooms, which make this really quite sexy. Better in a year or two but so complete now.