Andrew Jefford | Saturated dark black-red, and opaque almost to the rim; together with Valandraud, the deepest-colored wine we have looked at. Sweet, warm, spicy, long, beguiling, and seductive, with no sense of a difficult ripening season. Long, mellow, open, lush, planty, and full. Compared to the stars of Pomerol, this is less arrestingly fruity than they are (and compared to the stars of the Médoc, this comes from another planet)—but it’s lovely, everyone: It’s lovely. Tobacco, so amply cured it shreds aromatically in your fingers; earth; autumn; honeyed plums. Deep, dense, pure, long, ripe, impressive, and enjoyable. Close-textured, fine-grained, and intricate, with almost juicy fruit; floating, gossamer tannins. The acids are far less insistent than over on the Left Bank, of course, yet the depth and profundity that were possible in Pomerol this year just weren’t possible here, it seems. Deep and resonant on the palate, for all that, but a little less exciting than that very finely crafted nose suggested it would be. | 92

Michael Schuster | Still very closed to smell; full and rich, freshly defined, firmly, slightly wood drily, tannic; a ripe and classy fruit to taste, juicy, subtle, succulent and complex within the dry tannins, and long and fragrant to finish. Very good, though personally I wish it were less wood-dry in texture. But many won’t mind, and will relish, almost immediately, the up-front, fine, and flattering fruit. That is a question of taste. For my palate, greater rewards lie round a very long corner. 2030–40+. | 93