Michel Bettane and Thierry Desseauve: Perse’s vineyard selections truly hit their stride last year, and this vintage confirms their progress: opulent oak, sample richness and structure, but also a big, sunny character; intense length; a wine tailored for eternity. 19

John Gilman: The nose is deep, overripe, and eau-de-vie-like as it wafts from the glass in a blast of kirsch, black-raspberry syrup, chocolate, damp earth, and raw new oak. On the palate, the wine is full-bodied, powerful, and out of balance, with jolting, unintegrated acids, astringent tannins (some, of course, derived from the new oak), and a nasty, long, brusque finish. I have a very hard time imagining this will ever have a window where it will deliver even a modicum of pleasurable drinking. 9?