Deep colour with a purple rim. The nose starts heavy and a little soapy (or maybe that’s the glass?), it takes about 15 minute to become an interesting mix of very ripe black skinned fruits and deep cherry. The palate is reasonably well balanced and shows almost good texture. Again the dominant aspect is the ripeness of the fruit. Perhaps just a kick of complexity at the end, medium-plus length. Relatively simple, but hard not to like, a nice wine.
Medium-plus cherry-red. A wide and bright fruity nose supported by an earthy undercurrent. The palate is bold and concentrated with plenty of tannin that ends with a twist of bitterness. Good mid-palate density, and the fruit is not so bad. Almost good – particularly if you have the patience to leave this in the cellar for the next 5+ years.
Deep colour. The starts with a blast of camphor/menthol, slowly turns to cedar and opens out with high-toned red berry fruit and just a hint of volatility – eventually widens – becomes super. The first mouthful leaves little impression, save for a lovely penetrating length and a certain smoothness. Linear fruit, slightly grainy tannin and acidity that is just a trace tart. If the palate develops as well as the nose, this is on the buy list.
Medium lemon-yellow. The nose is sweet, shows a little exotic fruit and honey. Slightly fat, good concentration and apparently good acidity given the mouthwatering finish, but falls short of racy. Rather lumpy and borderline harsh on first opening – never really improved over two hours – so only ‘okay’.
Medium lemon yellow colour. Relatively fresh, some width, delicate and interesting. Density, indeed slightly unruly density – also not quite the freshness that I crave. But there’s dimension and power in spades, and the wine is obviously far too young. Needs 3 or 4 years in the cellar, but there’s more material than in many a grand cru and the finish lingers with a creamy edge. If there was just that edge more of acidity I’d be filling my cellar!
Deep colour. The starts with a blast of camphor/menthol, slowly turns to cedar and opens out with high-toned red berry fruit and just a hint of volatility – eventually widens – becomes super. The first mouthful leaves little impression, save for a lovely penetrating length and a certain smoothness. Linear fruit, slightly grainy tannin and acidity that is just a trace tart. If the palate develops as well as the nose, this is on the buy list.
Medium-pale yellow. The nose has many plusses – lovely high tones and a tight, linear depth – they just seemed a little unconnected at the start, eventually widens and comes together more, much more forward. The palate is quite unformed, intense, almost good acidity and certainly very long, though just tending to bitterness at the end. Quite impressive, and definitely not a 2003 for early drinking.
(Leclerc elevage) The nose is even wider than the Ponsot bottling though the ripe, red fruit is a little blurred in comparison. Sweeter palate with tannins that are not quite so fine, though the fruit does seem to have an edge more concentration. There’s real impact in the mid-palate and a great finish too, though a little astringent tannin appears too. More impact, less refinement – depends how you like your Griotte!
The only wine today that reluctantly welcomes your nose – quite closed, only slowly, slowly evolving a deep, coffee edged, savoury plum aspect. Given time this perspective becomes broader and more spice inflected but never quite matching the openness of the other wines. Again this is a wine where the palate is dominated by its weight of extract, bettering the RSV and equalling the GE for length. The tannins are just a little less astringent than those from the RSV. I find the wine incredibly impressive, yet somehow not as compulsive as the GE.
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