Bruno Besa: Deep garnet to tawny. Earthy, cedar-wood, black-fruit, road-tar nose. Full body, huge tannins, black-fruit palate, just a touch aggressive on the finish. Another wine that may well improve with time yet is fairly challenging at present. 90

Andrew Jefford: This is no longer opaque but translucent, while at the same time it is almost ebony dark: matière here, surely complex and fine, slowly emerging from the glass like a Bruckner symphony finding its themes. Stately, unshowy, evolved, and not “fresh”—but commanding and good gosh: enormously impressive here. Dense and majestic—very much following the aromatic profile. Almost monumental and certainly worth cellaring. Strange: it is above all a presence in the mouth at this stage, and doesn’t have a lot of articulacy, a lot of notes and allusions to which one could lend names. Some might find it a bit weighty and over-serious. But the core is very fine and will endure. 92

Michael Palij: Intense, complex, spicy nose of licorice, chocolate, coffee, mineral, and stewed black fruit, including damson, cherry and plum. The early promise of the aromatics fails to materialize on the palate, with the oak-derived tannins taking center stage and pushing the fruit to the back. 89