The last bottle of this was very good, and only drunk around two years ago, this bottle is not to the same standard. This one has a little volatility – slight cola – and some meaty aromas. The acidity is slightly lifted and there’s still just a hint of astringency showing from the tannins if you look hard enough. Decent length, but not so much love today. It was anyway my last bottle.

Bright, shiny, medium, medium-plus ruby-red colour. The nose starts with quite a waft of spicy, toasty oak but fortunately this hangs around for only 10 minutes or-so. The end result is wide, with higher tones and mainly red fruits that have just an edge of black about them. There is good concentration with even an extra kick in the mid-palate – it’s all coupled with good, smooth texture too. Excellent acidity and long finishing – very successful and better than many a 1er cru.

Given the block-buster reputation of this domaine’s V-R Suchots I was mildly surprised by this village wine. Medium but young colour. The wine really sings on the nose with beautiful red-cherry pie and a very interesting but slightly tighter depth. The palate is sweet, medium bodied and very elegant. Good acidity pushes the finish longer and longer. The tannins are there and in the slightly dry ’98 vernacular, well behaved but perhaps begging a little more fruit concentration. Elegant to start with, but the tannin does start to get in the way without food, very good with though.