Michel Bettane and Thierry Desseauve: Very classic leather nose with spicy, floral notes. Perfectly ripe fruit that helps to harmonise firm but unaggressive tannins. Stylish, if not as markedly vinous as some of its neighbours. 16

Margaret Rand: Tight, ripe and with good depth, but the tannins are pretty dry and chewy. The finish, however, is very long and fruity, and the fruit on the aftertaste survives the tannins. 16.5

Michael Schuster: Dense and ripe to smell, and clearly with good fruit there, but I found our UGC sample so swamped and parched by new oak as to be impossible to assess sensibly… But this is part of the style. And it may be that I just haven’t learnt that particular alphabet yet. Others are full of praise. NS