Medium colour – and quite a remarkable colour at that – you might think it cam from a 2001 or 2002, not a 20 year wine. The fruit aromas have sweetness, concentration and a bloody depth. A texture that just about avoids fatness but delivers in its stead a velvet impression from fading tannins – were they a bit astringent in their youth? – I expect so. Very well balanced, though it is a wine whose whole personality is about up-front impact, the finish being medium at best despite the quality of what went before, and showing some nice dried cranberry/currant. Yet for a 20 year-old villages wine I revert to my earlier adjective – remarkable. Can you expect more form such a cuvée at this age? – I’ll decide after I’ve opened the ’85…