Michel Bettane and Thierry Desseauve: Without trying to prove its superiority, the wine shows beautiful balance, almost like a patriarch, self-assured, with a noble character and almost perfect balance: harmonious and pure, fine-grained tannins, suave and brilliant on the finish, aristocratically refined. 18.5

Michael Schuster: Ripe fruit and raisiny character, too, also the strong impression of dry, new oak—like being in a new-barrel chai; full-bodied, concentrated, dryly tannic wine, with a spirity, dried fruit at its heart; intense, pure, bitter-black flavor of considerable tenacity, with a delicate fruit persistence that whispers the quality of its terroir and what might be, but whose voice, for the moment, is largely masked by the style of winemaking. What comes across is a pure, bittersweet flavor, warm, astringent, more like an alcohol spirit. Concentrated, low-yield droplets of faintly raisiny fruit, long, pure, and powerful. But to me it also tastes withered and old before its time, with none of the freshness, fruit glow, juiciness, and bloom of youth it should have. As usual, it will divide tasters and drinkers, and it clearly isn’t for me. Good of its type, yes… but perhaps I’m not really the person to judge. 17/17.5?