Grand Cru Wine Merchants

The 2008 Vico made from 100% Mencia with 30% whole clusters and aged for 9 months in seasoned French oak. Opaque purple-colored, it offers up a slightly reticent bouquet of damp earth, mineral, incense, black cherry, and black raspberry. Dense and loaded on the palate, the flavors are already complex and mouth-filling. Impeccably balanced and with a 45-second finish, it has the stuffing to blossom for another 2-3 years but can be approached now. It is a great value. -93pts WA (JM)

Inky ruby. Expressive aromas of dark berries, allspice and anise. Deeply pitched blackberry and bitter cherry flavors are enlivened by tangy acidity and pick up musky licorice and herbal notes with air. The spicy component returns on the fine-grained, incisive finish. This benefits from air: I'd give it at least a few more years of bottle age. -91pts IWC (JR)