Medium cherry-red. The nose starts with a burst of enthusiasm, tightens for a couple of minutes, then relaxes; although it’s not so wide there is a wonderful depth of dark, close to raised, fruit – eventually the aromas fill-out, proffering baked raspberry edged with violets! In your mouth, it cocks it’s hat to the domaine’s Clos St.Denis with an intensity that is acid-encrusted – fresh redcurrant style – with this wine there’s a little more tannin, but the most surprising aspect is the finish – it’s not so much the length, rather the very mineral, slatey flavour – it seems more like grand cru Chablis than comely Griotte, and that’s the wine all-over. No comfy, plush, slightly facile experience that you may expect from the label, rather a wine that challenges you with every sniff and sip, but in return offers you a different aroma and flavour as reward. I can’t call it gorgeous, but I found it sooo rewarding…

The colour is just a little darker. Aromatically I started with some concerns; the cork had a bad, rancid, almost volatile smell to it, some of that showed up as ‘inner mouth perfume’ as Burghound would say – far from perfume though – but fortunately it was only very faint on the nose. Mouth-filling, plenty of very fine tannin and a width of fine red fruit that’s both sweet and lingering. It’s quite a long way from the stunning depth of the 05, but then there is enough of that strange taint that I won’t rate it and would certainly send it back in a restaurant. I didn’t open a second one right away to see if it was better…!

Medium-plus colour. The nose starts as an interesting mix of high-tones, cherry-red fruit and a creamy red base, but that was only the start – super-focused red fruit follows – a real thing of beauty. The palate is super-intense, beautifully packaging the tannin. The length is fine but slowly narrows rather than expands, so the finish is impressive rather than great – the rest is great.

The nose starts high-toned with a backdrop of vintage 2004 cedar. Slowly the cedar recedes giving space for a much more mineral aspect than is usual for this vineyard and certainly less alluring. The palate is silky with fresh acidity and super intensity, but unusually the length is again very mineral. It’s actually quite super, but I’d never pick it as Griotte. Day 2 the nose is transformed to the classic soft, but deep red cherry, perhaps including also a shade of raspberry and importantly the cedar is totally vanished – that’s very promising. The palate gains a little more depth and the finish remains unchanged – mineral but very long. This could become a super wine – but wait for 2015 as a minimum – I think it will need it as it was even slightly better on day 3!

Much more fruit on the nose (vs Drouhin’s 97), in fact it’s so deep, pure and intense, it’s unlike any other wine here. The palate is concentrated and seems to harbour more dry extract than most others. The acidity is a little bright on the finish but it’s a minor blemish on a very fine face. The most ‘un-97-like’ wine in the show.

Good 94’s are hard to come by but I’ve never been disappointed by this cuvée – apart from one corked bottle. This Ponsot elevaged wine shows medium ruby-red colour and a lovely forward nose of sweet red cherry and faint sweat oak – eventually there’s a little strawberry confiture, finally a lovely pure red berry and a little mocha peeking out – there’s much more density than most 94’s show. The palate is well-textured with creamy flavour that clings to your mouth – it doesn’t have the length of a great year but it’s unmistakedly grand cru. The acidity is mouth-watering though could be a little smoother in the mid-palate, likewise the tannins are not perfect but their texture is not bad either. Coming close to, but not quite at maturity, this wine has very impressive fruit for the vintage, whereas the structure is just a little less sophisticated than normal. Still an easy 90pt wine and it provides a lot of love – that’s is quite a compliment for a 1994!