Golden colour. Honey and fresh pineapple nose, gradually turns a little waxy. Good fat, nice creamy fruit and excellent length. Not quite as racy and exciting as Gambal’s ‘Dents de Chien’ but possibly longer. Very tasty and drunk far too quickly!
Named after the vineyard’s red soil, this monopole was acquired after the Clos de la Mousse. A brooding nose, darker in profile than the Clos de la Mousse. The new oak used for elevage is also ~75%, but this time it’s a mix of Troncais and Alliers. Whereas the Clos de la Mousse normally has an elevage of 14 months before bottling, this wine usually needs a full 18 months. To start, the palate seems less obviously intense that the Mousse, but slowly the power builds and builds and is coupled to a real step-up in complexity. Again really good tannins.
Medium, medium-plus cherry-red colour. Slightly toast on the warm, sweet red nose. The palate shows an oaky toasty base – but it’s well done – it’s additive to the flavour rather than the texture. Sweet with good acidity and a nice burst on the finish. Good fruit. Needs longer for the oak to better integrate but it’s already very drinkable – tasty!
Medium-plus cherry red. The nose starts heavy with lightly toasted oak, the palate equally so. Given time for aeration the oak fades by around 75% with sweet fruit of several layers – all of them red. The palate starts with an understated intensity that builds and builds into quite an exciting flourish on the long finish. The tannin has just a little dryness on the finish but is finely grained. This is very good but needs quite a few (several) years though should be excellent.
Medium-plus colour. The nose has Arlot’s characteristic smokiness but is covered with toasty oak. The oak dissipates to leave higher toned red fruit (again a strawberry complexion) than the last wine. Immediately fatter and denser though the acidity carries the wine well giving excellent balance. The tannins are a little more forward still though again with nice mouthfeel. This wine will need even longer than its baby brother, personally I wouldn’t touch another for at least 5-8 years when it will be a very good wine.
Medium, medium-plus cherry-red colour right up to the rim. The nose starts with a muddle of oaky and mixed-fruit notes really needing around twenty minutes before the mist starts to lift, given thirty and focus reigns. It’s deep, creamy and totally red with white pepper over a fading marzipan. Versus the 99 at the same stage this is a completely different expression, the 99 had laser-like but densely expressed fruit whereas this is broader but without the same depth and ultimate concentration. That said there is a beautiful balance to this creamy wine with subtlety being the main hallmark. Fades very slowly. Excellent. Perhaps it’s only 90% as good as the 1999 but that’s 90% of a very big number, I’m glad there are a few in the cellar!
Medium colour. The nose is jump-out-of-the-glass stuff, an almost baked strawberry-red fruit but much of this baked effect comes from the dry, smokey base. If this is the young-vines wine I’m looking forward to the bigger brother, there’s sweet fruit that has a good extra kick in the finish – slightly creamy too. The tannins have medium-plus strength with good texture and just a slight bitterness in the finish too. Needs another two or three years for maximum friendliness but tasty and with some character.
Medium, medium-plus cherry-red colour. Well-rounded oak and mainly black fruit, even hints of black olive and coffee. Equally round, slightly fat palate. There’s excellent balance, good fruit and acidity plus tannins that are completely buried unless you do some serious chewing – if you do then the acidity becomes quite tart. I look forward to following the development of this wine.
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