A little oak then tight red fruit at the base. Rather bigger in the mouth than the Thierry Mortet, with lots of tannin but more than enough dimension to match. This is rather good.

Medium ruby-red – looks lovely in the glass. The nose is very tight, hints of marzipan, red fruit and a high-toned estery note – not that nice. It’s a concentrated wine, but equally there’s plenty of (currently) astringent tannin that has a trace of bitterness about it. The acidity is also on quite a high level. Returning after an hour there is a little more balance, both the tannin and the acidity are in more harmony with the fruit – I must say though that it never quite became ‘charming’.