Essi Avellan: Deep golden color. Soft, mellow nose with real appeal to it. Lovely pastry, nut, and biscuit complexity. Really deep nose, strong on mature fruit aromas such as dried apricot and honey. A light mushroom whiff. Big, fat palate, with plumpness and overwhelming exuberance. Powerful but not really detailed. 18

Simon Field: Bold of color, with small, luxuriant bubbles. The nose is lactic and citric at the same time, not completely integrated but fascinating nonetheless. The mouthfeel is expansive, ambitious, with secondary and tertiary notes regimented in the name of complexity and a capacity to seduce. 17

Tom Stevenson: Yellow-gold color, some toasty aromas but essentially fruit-driven and extraordinarily youthful for a mature wine on the palate. Broad-brush Chardonnay strokes providing richness and creaminess. One of the few wines that did not improve as it warmed up in the glass, not that it went rapidly downhill, either. 17.5 (28 months post disgorgement, tasted 2014; 12%; 10g/l dosage; 5mg/l total SO2)