Medium colour. The nose soars with a perfume that has roses and an impression of stems – I remember he said their were none – so I check again; “trust me!” he says. Oh well – it’s lovely anyway. Transparent, elegant, lithe and beautifully focused. I have an impression of the floral notes in the mouth too. There is no ‘oomph’ just understated intensity. Very lovely and hard to appreciate where all that new oak has gone!

Medium colour. The nose for over two hours wears a background cloak of reduction yet the dark red fruit is easy to discern. Across the tongue it’s light and lithe with a fine layer of velvet tannin and an intensity that grows in the mid-palate. There is a little flavour of reduction too – even the last glass saved for day 2. I’m a little concerned by this reduction but frankly it did little to stop the wine being finished with great enjoyment.

Medium colour. Precocious aromas of roses and red fruits – super. Velvet tannin with just an edge of ‘grab’. Beautiful acidity – a wine of beautiful balance.

Medium, medium-pale colour. Aromatically more impressive than you expect from the colour, deep with a faint edge of coffee – only turning redder and finer with a little tobacco and spice as you slowly drain the glass – no green notes. Light but intense in the mouth – it’s the slightly bright acidity that adds to the apparent intensity. Red berry fruit that slowly fades, good, understated velvet tannins. It’s precocious though quite well balanced, I’d be tempted to drink this younger rather than older. Tasty.

Medium, Medium-pale colour. Aromatically more impressive than you expect from the colour, deep with a faint edge of coffee – only turning redder and finer with a little tobacco and spice as you slowly drain the glass – no green notes. Light but intense in the mouth – it’s the slightly bright acidity that adds to the apparent intensity. Red berry fruit that slowly fades, good, understated velvet tannins. It’s precocious though quite well balanced, I’d be tempted to drink this younger rather than older.

Medium-plus cherry-red colour. Deep red, sweet cherry mixed with sweet vanilla oak – the fruit is nicely delineated – provided you keep the temperature below 20°C. Full flavour, perfectly presented with a strong vanilla infused finish – very high quality villages but very, very 2003.

Sweet, slightly powdery red fruit, almost a trace of blood-orange too. Following on from the 05′s in barrel, the house-style of supple, very fine tannins is again evident – lovely mouthfeel – it’s almost as if they are not there until you get a little dryness in the finish. Sweet, forward and interesting.

The nose really foxed me at the start, if the wine had been served ‘blind-folded’ as opposed to ‘blind’, I would have guessed gewurztraminer – it just had that slightly heavy, spicy feel. Swirling, warming and a little time in the glass convinced me that this was actually Vosne-Romanée as the red fruit started to shine through and the spice fade into the background. Again there is great texture and higher-toned fruit vs the Colombière and a slowly contracting finish. The acidity is just on a slightly higher level, and helps to show an edge more elegance than the first wine.

Medium-plus colour. The nose has intense fruit – more blue shaded than red. The palate has obviously ripe fruit that shows real depth, velvetty tannin. Intense and not at all jammy, this wine shouts out to advertise itself and is very impressive.

Similar depth of colour to the La Columbière. The nose doesn’t shout so loud, but there’s lovely depth to the fruit and a slightly more spicy aspect. The palate is a little silkier, not particularly high acidity but there’s balance and the finish is still mouthwatering. This is a very tasty wine that reminds Louis-Michel of Chambolle.

Similar depth of colour to the La Columbière. The nose doesn’t shout so loud, but there’s lovely depth to the fruit and a slightly more spicy aspect. The palate is a little silkier, not particularly high acidity but there’s balance and the finish is still mouthwatering. This is a very tasty wine that reminds Louis-Michel of Chambolle.