SF | A deep oaky core, pencil shavings, graphite and dark ripe fruit predominant. There is concentration and impressive integration here; chalky acidity and ripe sinewy tannins; a weave of flowers, glazed cherry, sandalwood and graphite. A worthy effort from a great name, only a few notches beneath its most illustrious efforts. 92
AJ | Dark, dense black-red. Complex for this vintage: deep, citrus-tinged black fruits, earth and spice -- but discreet oak; ample plant extracts behind. An excellent and refined aroma, worth spending time over. The 'fresh charge' of the vintage fully absorbed here but not providing the dominant note, as it so often does, though there is nothing forced or jammy either. Exuberant, though: you have to like exuberance! Deep, pure, long, driving and intense on the palate, though the acidity is mastered and fruit saturated, the oak is proportionate, and the tannins are soft and sumptuous, so the overall effect is affable and charming if high-focus. An excellent reading of the vintage and this wine will drink well for fifteen years or more, though it is not forbidding now. Amid a welter of different styles in St Emilion, too, this is classically warm, affable and friendly -- St Emilion as ever was.Drink Dates: 2028 - 2043.