SF | Deep inscrutable colour; nose of desiccated fruit and late season roses; a whiff of decadence one might say. The palate surprises, uplifts even, with a refreshing and energetic acidity which seems to take everything in its stride...gunpowder, slate, blueberry and cassis; a primrose way to everlasting pleasure; long, resourceful and pleasing, careless of the legacy of the trickier artefacts of the vintage. 92
AJ | Dark, dense black red though not quite opaque at the core any more. Sweet, almost ginger-infused black plum fruits and a lovely slab of fleshiness and raw liver too, to fill out the aromatic pores. Characterful but beguiling, with its great shimmer of ripeness. On the palate, it is commandingly fruity: concentrated and dense, insistent, splendid, very much itself. That ginger-fresh fruit is there, but so is the meaty-ripe richness. It is less tannic and muscular than many of its peers (and notably La Fleur-Petrus), but the purity and drive here is splendid, and it is fresh, fresh to the core. This is really a very very good Certan de May.Drink Dates: 2024 - 2040. 94
MS | Dense, faintly gravelly, persistent, subtle, already with a hint of truffle; rich, concentrated, freshly defined, finely but firmly tannic wine; deep, sweetly black cherry ripe to taste, sapid and tannic, but long and complex and mouthcoating, an ample long term presence and structure, powerful yet also restrained, long and warm and spicy to finish. Firm, imposing Pomerol, which will need many years to mellow and really display its full glories. Allow a slumber of at least decade and a half, I would think. Drink Dates: 2038 - 2055+. 95