92 pts - Wine Advocate
Very deep garnet-black colour with a brick rim. The nose is more evolved than the 1999, moving away from warm dark berry fruits with pleasant aromas of exotic spices, tobacco, leather and scorched espresso. The palate is nonetheless finely structured with a medium to firm level of grainy tannins and medium+ acidity to give freshness to the medium to full body. Long, spicy finish. Drink now to 2014. Tasted November 2008. - Lisa Perrotti-Brown
94 pts - Wine Spectator
A tremendous wine. Dense, tight and chewy, with firm, mouthcoating tannins wrapped around a core of mocha-laced currant and blackberry. Well-focused, precisely balanced and full of concentrated flavors. A great cellar candidate. Drink now through 2012. 1,800 cases made. âJL WS
92 pts - Vinous
Deep ruby-red. High-toned aromas of dusty currant, black raspberry, graphite and minerals. Very suave, minerally and vibrant, but less obviously ripe and smaller-scaled than the great '99, which showed explosive aromatics, remarkable breadth and texture, and great inner-mouth energy in early March, meriting 95 points. With a bit less mid-palate thickness and extract, the tannins in this 2 are more apparent than those of the 1999.- Stephen Tanzer (5/23)