Simon Field: Dense uncompromising color; maybe a touch bruised by time’s arrow, holding the line at the rim; a subtle nose marries dark chocolate, fruits of the forest, and hints of tapenade. Quietly assertive; gently indulgent; the palate has hints of jambon cru held in a tense counterpoint with the vestigial fruit. A fulsome and somewhat foursquare example, a hint Calvinistic in outlook, predestined to age for several more years. | 90

Andrew Jefford: Dark, near-opaque black-red, though some suggestion of bricking at the meniscus. Leggier, too, than most of its 1994 peers. Flamboyantly sweet, rich black fruits, with an earthiness behind the sweetness. Very attractive and still full of life. Deep and almost powerful still on the palate, with a fiery, solar concentration of fruit but no burned characters at all. Rather a great wave of blackcurrant, blackberry, and sweet sloe comes bearing down on the tongue and bubbling over it, leaving roasted spices afterward, as the wave subsides. The fruits almost tiptoe on the edge of jammy-sweet. The tannins are soft now but the overall amplitude of the wine leaves the drinker with a sense of creaminess. Caramel and coffee on the finish. | 91

Richard Mayson: Deep, opaque, still youthful; rather sullen and withdrawn on the nose, underlying richness and plummy opulence with obvious depth; ripe and fleshy on the palate, well-defined plummy fruit backed by powerful, spicy tannins, a classic ’94 with a long, linear finish. | 94