The nose has some herbal notes to begin with; building and building in the glass to offer aromas that show a very impressive depth of cushioned red fruit – very fine indeed (some might say). Round, with very fine acidity, the tannins have just a little grip but are pretty-much overwhelmed by the fresh fruit flavours. Sleek lines for a Griotte but super, flavour.
Ardea sealed and these things are frankly a pain in the arse to remove. Medium-plus purple-rimmed colour. The nose starts dense and unyielding but very quickly develops a dark macerating fruit aroma, then slowly evolves, adding dimension with beautiful high-toned berries – they take on an exquisite almost jellied dimension. I think I am in the presence of greatness – but before getting carried away, let’s taste. Silky, but it’s pure sinew and muscle, there’s not an ounce of fat. There is plenty of acidity but the flavours it helps introduce are incredibly intense and long lasting – those flavours start as essence of fruit and end as rocks. I dare say that I could really bore you with a long list of adjectives if I follow it for a couple of hours – but I only need five minutes to confirm what the nose suggested: I’m in the presence of greatness.
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.
Medium, medium-plus cherry red. The high-toned nose also starts with a little reduction and earth – it never really becomes fully fruit driven. The stance of this wine is althletic and ‘wiry’ with plenty of intrinsic muscle. The texture is good and the acidity helps to push the finish reasonably long – though in this company it’s (at best) average – with a little raisined aspect and some underlying oak being the dying notes.
The only wine not decanted – and didn’t it show, Medium-plus ruby with a trace of amber at the rim. For around 15 minutes this wine had absolutely no perceptible smell – eventually a beautiful pure redcurrant and griotte nose came through, all the while increasing in intensity. Perfect acidity and slightly rasping tannins which subsided with time. There is understated red fruit of medium concentration that lingers well but not much more that I can add. Unfortunately this wine was ‘sacrificed’ – doesn’t seem to have the class or the concentration of the wines above or ’93 Drouhin wine, but it is closed tight shut so I’ll reserve judgement for another day. Requires at least 2 hours in a decanter or better still 3-5 more years somewhere cold and dark – still I’ve got two more chances of getting this right!
The weather was hot, so this wine overnighted in the fridge before being decanted. I left it in the decanter for an hour before drinking by which time it had already warmed up to 14/15°C. A medium-plus ruby core but moving to amber at the rim. Initially the nose gave a fabulous blast of bloody and aging tertiary fruit notes, then it started to close up giving only a cedar aroma – at this point I was starting to worry about taint. In the mouth there was lovely volume, just a little grain to the end of the tannins and lingering acidity, however, there are also waves of roast fruit and meat flavours that cling to your palate. Atypical in delivery, but very impressive none-the-less. The problem was that the suspicion of taint didn’t leave me for the first glass, so the wine that wasn’t fully enjoyed as I spent most of the while thinking, ‘what would this wine be like if . . . . ‘ In the end the day was saved, the cedar note receded to be replaced by raspberry jam and chocolate notes.
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