This is a little more ethereal on the nose – not so much impact – the red fruits slowly take on more clarity. If I may not have guess Malconsorts on the nose, there is ample demonstration in the mouth-filling flavours; width, dimension and complexity. Again there’s a minerality that travels the full length of the considerable finish.
This is from vines planted N-S in Champs Traversins. Starting with the healthiest vines in 2001, various portions of vines were moved to ‘bio’ farming – each year a little more. 2007 is the first vintage where everything was organic/bio. Medium colour. The notes starts just a little diffuse, but slowly comes together to show flashes of brilliant fruit against soft, smoky stems. The tannin, whilst velvety, is the most visible in any of these wines – there is no astringency though. Whilst there is really good dimension in the mid-palate, this is clearly a wine of complexity rather than overt power. Just a little oak flavour on the finish, but no oak texture. Fine.
The nose is wide and surprisingly mineral with understated red fruits – no obvious stems showing here. In the mouth the personality is of a medium-bodied red-fruited wine with tannin that’s hardly worth a mention. Despite its very understated acidity it is both long finishing and not a little mouth-watering. I found this a very good and very approachable wine, though several steps below the quality I might expect given the pricing of more recent vintages.
A medium, quite mature colour. The nose starts deep, stemmy and interesting – over the next two hours it goes from strength to strength, with red berries, mineral notes of pencil lead, occasional caramel or cream etc., etc. – it was first class. In the mouth I expected it would have little chance of competing with the aromatics and so it turned out – but it was still a worthy choice. Not the density of of a grand cru from most (recent) vintages, medium bodied with very slightly elevated acidity, but as the wine developed and became sweeter this was hardly noticeable. The faintest hint of tannin remains and the wine never withered in 2 hours, rather it became more interesting and complex. This is mature, reasonably long and tasty. Nine from ten for the nose and more like seven for taste. Lovely.
The colour is starting to take on a shade of mahogany, not perfectly bright – but see through. Aromatically it’s about heavy stems over pretty red fruit – cherry, strawberry and raspberry – and a little ‘raised’ balsamic impression. The palate is well textured and apart from a little extra width and intensity in the mid-palate, the wine is about understated, balanced delivery. The finish is almost good – no more. I think my last bottle was 3-4 years ago, the colour is a little older and the tannin is softer. Very good, but hardly outstanding.
Medium-plus ruby-red colour. The nose is brown-sugar sweet with quite some understated density, very subtle stems and eventually a mix of black cherry and a last note of redcurrant. The palate is very well textured with fine grained tannin offsetting dense fruit and very good acidity. The only negative today is a little oak-driven bitterness on the finish. This is showing as a very young wine – much younger and denser than the 1995 at the same stage of evolution (or perhaps better to say age) – I wouldn’t open another for 3-5 years. Perhaps it’s time to dig out another 95…
Medium-pale ruby-red. The nose is heavy with the musky scent of strawberry, raspberry and the smoky stems – it’s a beauty. The palate has a soft entry that nicely widens with the help of understated acidity. The equally soft tannin is still there as an undercurrent as you head into a finish of creamy baked red fruit and still just a little bitterness – here for the first time the acidity is not so seamless. As is usual for this village cuvée in a reasonable vintage, it’s still not quite ready to drink at 12 years of age, but I’m happy there are more in the cellar!
(From Magnum) Medium, medium-plus ruby-red, and a little brighter than the 75cl bottle that I last opened. The nose takes time to get into it’s stride; starting with faint smoke and a slightly estery width, but there is an ever-sweetening and intensifying core of red fruit that eventually becomes more floral – though it’s a heavy rather than refined scent – impressive and moreish all the same. The slowly intensifying fruit on the nose is mirrored by the taste, always building in the mouth, just a transient petillance too. Good acidity and dry but not blocky tannin and long with a dark-fruit aspect to the finish. The stems don’t seem to engender the fresh purity of some wines, but the complexity is there for all to see. Very impressive.
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