Hmm – wide, darkly oaked but with quite an aromatic invitation. Mouth-filling. Big wine. Only slowly melting its complexity over the palate. Serious, impressive, and with lots of power for the vintage – delicious and it will last as long as you wish – bravo!

Medium-plus colour, still with some cherry-red in the mix. Deep, sweet beetroot, brown sugar and a dark red/black confiture fruit encasing a core of some minerality – the last drops in the glass show beautiful raised red fruits. Perfectly balanced acidity that keeps your mouth watering, yet the supporting sweetness ensures no sharpness. The finely-grained tannins are very-much fading into the background. Medium plus finish. A balanced and very pretty wine that is slowly adding some complexity and is very 99, but it’s not obviously grand cru – at least today – maybe more like a good 1er. That said, it was cheaper than many 1ers at the time of buying!

Medium ruby-red colour with more than a passing shade of amber at the rim. The fresh nose has some lovely componets; high tones, coffee, sweet undergrowth, unfortunately they don’t really meld together in a particularly interesting way. The palate has more interest, starting with a narrow entry it opens nicely on the mid-palate and shows good intensity. The acidity sticks out a little but there is sweetness and a very impressive length. Overall there’s no real class here – it’s very drinkable despite the rough edges, but hardly a grand cru experience – at least it wasn’t corked!

Medium-plus ruby red. The nose is a beauty; a meaty base with sweet delineated fruit of real depth, loses a little of the higher tones with time in the glass. The fruit is concentrated and dense, velvety and plush without being too fat, though dense enough to amply cover the super acidity. The finish is long even for a grand cru. Still rather linear, rather than growing the mouth it’s a slow diminuendo. Very lovely now and no rush to consume.

Medium cherry-red colour – perhaps just a trace of purple. The nose is wide with high-toned fruity headroom and more than a hint of sweetened cherry. The palate is fresh and wide – not the highest level of concentration, but depth and lovely fresh fruit with super complexity on the finish. I think with a little lower yields this could have been outstanding – as opposed to interesting and satisfying – first from this case, and no ‘buyer’s regret!’.

I’ve bought this wine from 1996 to 1999 (inclusive) but then my overstocked merchant dropped the label – I think I’ll have to pay a visit and keep my mini-vertical running… The wine is medium-plus garnet, little fading. The nose starts a little disjointed and heavy on the oak, given five minutes the oak has harmonised with a coffee topped plum and cherry pie effect – still quite understated – a cooked note spoils the overall effect a little. Direct from the cellar the fresh palate is not obviously fat, but becomes more so as the wine approaches room-temp. The tannins are of velvet and the acidity lingers into a gorgeous and complex finish – which comes as a surprise given the understated way the wine begins. If there’s one criticism, the wine seems more advanced than most ’98’s and not just on the nose – but it’s a lovely drop.

Medium ruby but already looking mature with brick at the rim. This is a wine that both inspires and disappoints, a gorgeous nose and finish but the palate is a little rough. First the nose, ripe and deeply scented with cooked plums trailing off to dried currants. In the mouth the wine is quite smooth with intense fruit and grainy tannins, the problem is the acidity which is badly integrated and sharp or spiky. I’m assuming that this needed acidifying and the result lacks balance. Despite this, the finish is a very good one with the same dried currants from the nose lingering very well. Given the tannins, I’d still look to leave this for another couple of years and hopefully the acidity might be more balanced.

Deeply coloured, more purple than red. High notes to low notes take in raspberry then redcurrants finishing with creamy Victoria plums, possibly a suggestion of coffee too. The first thing that strikes you about the palate is how thick it feels in the mouth. The abundant fruit does well at hiding the medium tannins and the medium but lingering acidity. Absolutely first class, and currently drinking better than the 96, 97 & 98!