Medium plus colour. Deep black fruit surrounded by a dry, spicy oak note – nice. The palate is concentrated, showing black fruit – almost a black olive note – very good acidity and decent length. The tannins have a little grain and a little bitterness too. This is certainly in the Grivot vernacular, extracted and needing a little time. With aeration the black fruit starts to take on a plum aspect, indeed if the the tannins were a bit thicker and more velvetty you could probably convince someone that this is a merlot! I’ll give it the benefit of the doubt, and I’ll also give my other two bottles several years.