Stephan von Neipperg's tiny jewel of a vineyard 12 acres produces the ultimate garage wine from 50-year old vines. A candidate for the wine of the vintage, this blend of 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Franc is a big, concentrated effort of extraordinary intensity and richness. A sensational bouquet of sweet blueberry, black raspberry, and black currant fruit interwoven with scents of charcoal, incense, graphite, and pain grille is followed by an extraordinarily intense, full-bodied, amazingly concentrated wine displaying elevated tannins in the finish. It is another uncompromising effort meant for long-term cellaring. Anticipated maturity: 2014-2030.

Tasted blind at Farr Vintners' 2006 tasting, the 2006 La Mondotte offers a pleasant bouquet with red cherries, iodine and blueberry fruit, quite warm and generous, a nose that comes out and hugs you. The palate is mature with a slightly smudged entry: dusky black fruit, earthy and with moderate depth. It does not really fan out towards the finish as I was expecting, though there is a pleasant saline edge that beckons you back for the next sip. This is well crafted and elegant, packed full of flavor with good prospects to age over the next decade. Tasted April 2016.

This shows mineral, floral and violet aromas. Full-bodied, with firm yet polished tannins and a cedar, vanilla bean and berry aftertaste. Solid and beautiful. Best from 2013 through 2018. -JS