Jesús Barquín: Chestnut. Serious, intense nose; complex, spicy, Mediterranean herbs, rosemary, cathedral carpentry. The palate lives up to this promise with a symphony of aromas and old age—and yet there is a mild sweetness that detracts, robbing purity. This would be decidedly among my top wines were it not for that superfluous concession. 16

Andrew Jefford: Mid- to deep walnut, with russet-red glints. Evidently casky, yet that rattle of staves has plenty of aromatic backing: leather, mushroom, consommé, dried apricot. On the palate, there is just a tickle of sweetness. It’s well judged: This is a wine of great intensity, including components of evident great age, and that touch of sweetness just buffers their austerity and lifts their expressive force. Magnificent, sweeping across the tongue like a diva, statuesque, full and piercing, yet leaving it with great cleanliness and precision. The mushrooms and the veal stock mingle and fume together in the aftertaste. A stonker! 17.5

Richard Mayson: Mid-deep amber, with a green glint on the rim; powerful, pungent, and penetrating with some dried-fig character and a fresh, green, grassy edge; similarly powerful and penetrating on the palate, this wine sharpens to a point, quite high in acidity: greengages. Full initially, yet with a long, lithe finish. 18.5