Medium colour with just a hint of amber. This is a sniffer’s wine, subtle and complex – only slowly widening and becoming softer. This is also rather understated in the mouth; it has good freshness, nice transparency – again a subtle complexity – but you have to work hard to find all these elements. Long with a faint diminuendo. You would easily lose this in a large tasting.
Medium, medium-plus ruby-red colour. Bright, ripe red fruit – baked tarts – depth but limited width, the aromas are very persistent. Interesting, concentrated and ripe – there’s some complexity, but the fruit is quite dense, almost monolithic at the core. The length is very good and this is one very smooth wine. It needs plenty of time for complexity, but otherwise this is much more accomplished than the Rugiens.
Medium-plus blood-red. The nose has a wide and interesting blend of high tones and panoramic red fruit plus cranberry – just a little mint at the start and eventually a little licorice. Still plenty of grainy tannin that clings to the inside of your mouth. Good fruit and, again, just a little licorice. Showing very well right now, and that’s good thing too as my last two bottles were both corked.
Almost as deep colour as the 1996, but perhaps with an extra hint of youth. On pouring the nose is a little diffuse, it needs time to develop into a wonderfully meaty mix of savoury and fruit driven aspects. Doesn’t have quite the volume in the mouth as the 1996 but rather than building it’s attack, it delivers a knockout punch right from the start – even seems slightly fresher than 1996. The tannins still have quite a rasp, but there’s the next 20 years-plus to wait for them to soften. Gorgeous intensity. I slightly prefer this to our bottle of 1996.
Medium-pale ruby-red centre further reducing in intensity as you head for the rim. The nose is a sweet mix of stems and hint of red and orange. Concentration is on a higher level than the colour suggests. Good acidity and a slightly coffee tinged finish. Delicate and pretty much open for business – but absolutely no rush as the balance is very fine – I’ll drink the remaining six over the next 10-15 years.
Versus the Bâtard the colour is a little deeper – more golden too. The nose is higher toned and a little less burly, riper though still with plenty of oak. Despite this wine being decanted an hour earlier it’s another hour in the glass before the nose reaches its peak. Overall this is a fantastic wine that just doesn’t quite show the precision of the Bâtard but anyway very fine.
First bottle corked. Bottle two is similarly deep coloured, almost saturated ruby at the core. A meaty and concentrated nose, just a hint of vegetation together with a mineral, pencil-lead aspect. Concentrated, deep and smooth – or at least until it gets into the finish where the grainy, dry tannins still dominate. This wine manages to produce a mouth-watering finish that’s both deep and a little creamy. A big wine that currently has more in common with the Rhône than Vosne but one that still needs 3 or 4 years.
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