The colour is a rather deep mahogany with just a hint of ruby-red in the reflections. The nose shouts of toasty oak when first poured but rapidly starts to show a super depth and even height of red shaded fruits then finally some floral violet notes – super complexity and quite impressive. After the 2000 Thomas-Moillard St.Vivant this is excredibly lithe, tight and acid-driven – it takes a few sips to adjust before calm is restored. There’s real intensity here and though the finish is quite understated, it is very long. You sense rather than feel the tannins due to a faint astringency, but they are very well behaved. Slowly the density builds in the mid-palate rounding the wine out more and more – I’d say this conservatively needs another 5 years to make the next step from impressive to excellent. This was really super value costing ‘only’ ~€50, I seem to remember the price jumping significantly for the 1999 vintage, today I’ve lost touch on the pricing.

Medium-plus ruby core moving through brown to amber at the rim – this could be 20 years old from the colour. On opening you’re met with a pronounced medium toasty-oak nose which gradually subsides to the background becoming more like plum and coffee. The nose constantly evolved – from the colour I was expecting a cooked fruit profile, but gradually primary red an black cherry is unlocked from the mix – even redcurrants too after a time. The palate has very silky tannins with long acidity. This feels really sumptuous in the mouth and shows perhaps a little more cooked fruit than the nose with a deep plum pie. If there is one area of disappointment it is in the medium plus finish – given the nose and silky palate I’d expected an extra length – but it wasn’t there. Still a lovely wine and this producer’s version is usually cheaper than many a Charmes’.