Medium, medium-plus colour. The nose opens with wide and forward and very, very young grapey fruit – it’s like a genie escaping from the bottle, but escape it does and what you are left with is a dense core of red fruit. The aromas remain solid and one-dimensional for the next 2 hours – no 02 CSJ sytyle reduction here. The palate is fatter and more concentrated than the CSJ and the balance is very good – the tannin is there only if you search it out. Like the nose, there is concentration but no complexity – it’s big and rounded and soft and somehow comforting, but it’s monosyllabic – typical young Griotte I suppose. Remaining bottles should wait at least until their 12th birthday I think, though 15+ is likely to be better.