SF | Deep at the core, Midnight black; a cardinal's robe on its shoulders. The nose is a little closed, with more of the Franc tapenade and wood smoke, laurel and petrichor rather than violets and cassis today. A function of youth. The palate broods with equal intensity, its sinews stretched, its musculature posed but disinclined to show off that much today. Cocao and black coffee, hearthside chats and bucolic walks; much more to come, much of it already discerned through the structural weave. 94
AJ | Dense, saturated black-red, almost to the rim. A glimpse of midnight. Vivid, earthy, sappy, lively -- wow, it's amazing how the Pomerols all differ clearly from one another this year. This seems to convey some of the urgency and freshness of La Conseillante, but in a totally different way: more darkly, with a livid streak; more densely, with a shattering or compressing of its raw materials as if to extract the liveliness that lay within them, in their cores. La Conseillante was very fresh and aerial; this is more brooding and saturnine. I find it almost a bit disconcerting at present: sweet and charming in one sense, but challenging in another. You can find much here: ripe plum, black raspberry, the memory of ferments, sandalwood, fenugreek and saffron. But a touch confit, too. As the nose, so the palate: dense, deep, searching, articulate, allusive -- but unusual and challenging. Lovely soft enrobing tannins, and the fruit core seems both pure but allusive, driving, multivalent. Definitely a wine to look at again as it evolves, as it may be going through something of a brooding stage at present. Splendid depth and textural presence in a year in which some producers have gone 'daringly light'.Drink Dates: 2028 - 2040.