Michel Bettane and Thierry Desseauve: Very full-bodied, round, smooth and velvety, with plenty of freshness, too – beyond question the most complete wine since 1990. Unlike the grand vin, this is all the better for its distinguished Merlot content. 16

Margaret Rand: Sweet, spicy fruit with great depth; tannins are supple and weighty. A blockbuster. 18

Michael Schuster: A fine nose of ripe blackberry, cassis and mineral. Very well-balanced, fairly concentrated, fresh middleweight wine with a fine-grained, firm tannin. Long, ripe, very pure cassis-fruited, pebble-backed flavour, with a fine aromatic character and excellent length. A rich second wine, but one that has density without thickness. Not a muscular Pauillac, but a particularly refined one. 16.5