2012 Château Malartic-Lagravière Pessac-Lèognan

A 94pt Click on a Macbook Air: Robert Parker Shocks the World

We’ve been working in the wine trade for almost 35 years, ever since we blew off law school in the fall of 1981. Our first purchase of Classified Growth Bordeaux was on the futures market of 1983, when we locked into a few bottles of Robert Parker’s fabled 100-point 1982 Château Mouton-Rothschild.

Since then, we’ve had front-row seats on the Place de Bordeaux as speculators gambled on vintages, only to be caught in the whipsaw downturns of 1989-1990 and 2009-2010.

But never in our three-decade study of the Bordeaux markets have we seen anything quite like what took place between February and April 2015, when the guy who sets and adjusts the prices of vintage Bordeaux with a click of his keyboard shocked the wine world.

In February 2015, in an announcement that rocked the Left and Right Bank, Robert Parker announced that he would not be attending the barrel-tasting of the 2014 vintage. From Pessac-Léognan to Saint-Estèphe, we asked nervous proprietors and traders to name the likely heir apparent.

All the answers were the same: “Personne!” No one!

But then, on April 30th, in Issue #218 of The Wine Advocate, Parker, who has always had a flair for the dramatic, did what he loves to do. He reminded every collector, trader, and importer in the world that while he was taking a step back, he was not yet ready to give up the throne. One more time, Parker displayed the power of the well-worn keys on his MacBook Air in an updated vintage report entitled, “The Bottled 2012 Bordeaux 1998, 2001, 2006 – Déjà Vu?”

In that report, one more time Parker sent markets reeling, admitting that he’d underrated a number of 2012s, none more so than the greatest wine ever to come of the gravelly soils of Château Malartic-Lagravière.

At a time when nearly every 94-point Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon is selling like hotcakes at $150/bottle, as The Wine Advocate suggested, the 2012 Château Malartic-Lagravière ranks among Parker’s highest-rated Bordeaux blends in the world, a wine of tremendous concentration and power that “The King” suggests won’t hit its peak until sometime in 2040!

Parker called it “a beauty, with a dense ruby/purple color, a fabulously plush, opulent texture and medium to full-bodied flavors of cassis, spicy earth and blueberry. Quite rich, yet light on its feet, this is an absolutely textbook Pessac-Léognan, with wonderfully velvety tannins. Drink it now, or drink it in 25 years.” 94 points!

Rarely do we suggest 12-bottle purchases on $65 bottles. Today’s an exception. Purchase a case of Robert Parker’s drop-dead bargain of the superb 2012 vintage. Drink six over the next decade. Save the rest for your granddaughter’s wedding day!

• ABV 13.50%
• Enjoy right away
• % Bordeaux Blend