Andrew Jefford | Dark, still-opaque black-purple, almost to the rim. Beckoning. Pure, deep, fresh-pressed, sweetly engaging, almost insinuating aromas, penetrating and seductive. Fine, swish black fruits; red flowers and fruit-tree blossoms; lovely bass notes: bay, petitgrain, glove leather; cream, too. All you could want, and absolutely no sense here of this coming from anything but a fine vintage. Commanding. Astonishing wine: deep, pure, consummately ripe, concentrated, and energetic, yet with such fine grain and weave to it that you’re hardly aware of that concentration when you sip. The classic plum fruits ring and sing, then the echo floats off in a roasty little dance of spice, fine tannins, and glowing fruit acids that leaves the mouth tingling with excitement and satisfaction. Astonishingly ripe tannins, too. 2017 looks like a great vintage here, whatever the case elsewhere. Mastered power and complexity; tapered, shapely, serene. It’s been a privilege to taste this, even though it is still severe: wait eight years before beginning on it, supposing you are lucky enough to own some. (And 15% ABV, invisibly so. All that matters is the perfect point of ripeness for site, variety, and vintage. The actual figure is irrelevant.) I’m reluctant to score it at 98—98, from 2017? Really? Yet I have to do this, since repeated comparisons suggest that it is at least two clear points ahead of the best of its peers (and in Pomerol they are very fine) from every commune, largely on the basis of aromatic finesse and purity (which clings and lasts in the glass, whereas its peers somehow lose their aromatic poise more swiftly), wealth and sumptuousness of texture and absolutely spotless, pristine, and finally lyrical fruit. It really is a great wine, and the market has got it right in this instance, even setting aside the scarcity question. | 98

Michael Schuster | Needed much glass-to-glass decanting to lose the reduction—then a fine, scented, persistent, floral-mineral nose. Very nicely balanced indeed considering its 15% ABV (though you do eventually sense the warmth on the palate); full, fresh, very finely tannic, in any case, a fairly long-term texture. Sweet and subtle in flavor, great length across the palate, all the while strikingly, mouth-coatingly scented; very Burgundian in its combination of purity, delicacy, and gentle power, and with wonderful fragrant length. Remarkable wine, but it will certainly need years to really mellow. 2033–40+. | 95