Deep colour. Equally deep nose of undergrowth, turned-over leaves, black fruit and black olive. Mouth-wrapping tannins, tons of black fruit that gets purer with time in the glass. I think I would have guessed Gevrey. Really interesting.
Medium-plus colour. The nose starts almost corky/high-toned but blows off to reveal a more earthy and eventually classic 1993 dried cranberry/raisin fruit. Nice balanced concentration with lovely acidity, fine fruit and a hint of rusticity to the grainy tannins. Made by Jean-Marie’s father in a much earthier style than you find today.
Medium-plus colour and looks amazingly young – younger in fact than most ’98’s! The nose is wonderful with the full range of 1993’s characteristic dried cherry/cranberry/raisin fruits, slowly developing a savoury, meaty edge. Classic, fresh, 1993 acidity is matched by creamy fruit and an almost graphite/coal-style mineral edge. For a villages-level wine this is gorgeous and still quite young.
From magnum. Deep colour. High tones over a base of raisins and dried red fruit on the nose. A really nice core of concentrated fruit on the palate pushed long into the finish by first-class ’93 acidity. The grainy tannins don’t have the sophistication of the recent wines, but this is certainly a very enjoyable finale and still a very young wine in this format.
Medium-plus ruby red, only fading a little. The nose starts just a little woody but this quickly fades to give a true griottes nose of focused red fruit. The palate has good fat and perfect acidity. The tannins, though smooth, are more present than in either of the other two cuvées. Despite everything being in place this wine is more one-dimensional than the others – needs more time – perfectly enjoyable for that and very good wine.
The only wine not decanted – and didn’t it show, Medium-plus ruby with a trace of amber at the rim. For around 15 minutes this wine had absolutely no perceptible smell – eventually a beautiful pure redcurrant and griotte nose came through, all the while increasing in intensity. Perfect acidity and slightly rasping tannins which subsided with time. There is understated red fruit of medium concentration that lingers well but not much more that I can add. Unfortunately this wine was ‘sacrificed’ – doesn’t seem to have the class or the concentration of the wines above or ’93 Drouhin wine, but it is closed tight shut so I’ll reserve judgement for another day. Requires at least 2 hours in a decanter or better still 3-5 more years somewhere cold and dark – still I’ve got two more chances of getting this right!
Darkest and best of the first 10 wines. The colour shows a deep ruby with a more watery rim. Still showing a trace of oak on the nose with distant black shaded fruit – more closed than the others. Simply super depth to the fruit. The tannins are denser but very well presented. Acidity that’s ‘just right’. The star of the line-up so far. Will be excellent.
Medium ruby with some colour development towards the rim. Understated, almost closed nose – just a little red fruit. Lovely weight to the concentration – vying with 1995 here. Just a little more acidity and very fine and smooth tannins. Still far too young. I think this just gets the nod over the 1995 – but it’s a close call!
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