SF | Neat squid ink black, not much by way of gradation. Nose is precocious , meaty and a little ungainly. Wet stone, slightly stalky fruit, maybe a little troubled by its extreme youth. The palate is somewhat amorphous, plenty of intent, no shortage of ripe and dark fruit, licorice and fig as a backdrop, but the wine has yet to take on sincerity of shape and thus appears somewhat spherical and hard to judge with benevolence. And yet, he says, having another look ten minutes later, the wine appears to have settled down and assumed an interesting aromatic purity.......hard to judge at the moment, one may conclude! 88
AJ | Down-the-line black purple, the colours pulled up right to the rim; mobile in the glass. Oh, an odd one out: this almost has a grassy scent, as if (improbably enough) there was a parcel or two that never quite got ripe. Off the pace for the cohort and seems a little varnishy at this stage. Plenty of choice blackcurrant to enjoy, and indeed it will be enjoyable in the short to medium term. I still find the tealeaf-capsicum a bit of a puzzle, though -- a particular site? Delicious drinking but the cohort is a classy one and in that context this is "merely good".Drink Dates: 2027 - 2032. 85
RM | Deep, opaque; raw, green and lifted on the nose, out of character with the rest of the wines in this vintage, (second bottle possibly slightly better with more focus); more depth on the palate with some soft berry fruit and good firm spicy structured tannins if a little green and 'chaffy' on the finish.Drink Dates: 2030 - 2050. 88