Standard cuvée. From fourteen year-old vines. I have the impression that there’s some background reduction, but Pierre says this is the terroir and he describes it as sauvage. The flavour grows in the mouth, nicely mouth-watering. Good density of flavour.

Cuvée ‘en foule’. Planted at 36,000 vines per hectare in 2002. This high-density planting returns about two bunches of fruit per vine. Also a little ‘sauvage’. Clearly we have more intensity and a mineral dimension to versus the ‘classic’. Nicely balanced – will surely become ever-more impressive as the vines age.

Normal (classic) cuvée. The sauvage note is there, but it seems to diminish in the glass. Wide and interesting, the sweet fruit peaks in the mid-palate – tasty.

Cuvée en foule. The nose seems to offer up chalk and minerals – no sauvage. Fuller and more tannic than the basic cuvée there definitely seems more material in the glass. Again there is a peak of flavour in the mid-palate but this time with much more complexity. A bigger difference in the two wines in 09 versus 08.