Andrew Jefford | Dark, opaque black-purple. Brooding and curranty just now: pure, deep, long, a quiet purr. But for the time being, Clos du Marquis is a much more aromatically articulate wine. There’s lots in here, but it’s in winter hibernation under a pillow of fresh-fallen currants as yet. Deep, intense dark fruit, also still in a quiet, brooding phase, though very intense, very pure, and absolutely ripe in the vintage context. Evidently cool, and fresh though neither leafy nor green, and with less backing grapefruit than many; instead, there is a tight-squeezed inkiness of fruit in the finish, a grasping pungency. For all that, the overall tannin structures are a little lighter than I expected. Grand, concentrated, and deep-toned, this wine may well win a higher score when articulacy begins to creep in over the next few years. (Later, with air: The wine grows in grandeur and authority, and the intensity of fruit amplifies— the tight-squeezed inkiness and the grasping pungency begin to unpack. Very fine, and air even seems to swell the tannins a little. As always, an authoritative and commanding wine and a benchmark for its entire region.) | 94

Michael Schuster | Crisply ripe blackcurrant fruit over gravelly aromas to smell; fullish, firm, tannic, a long-term medium-bodied constitution, as always in a relatively muscular style; a lovely freshness of ripe fruit, within a firm but very refined tannic texture, a youthful frame round a satisfyingly complex, aromatic core, with a marked length of aftertaste. Fine, elegant, complete, long-term Las Cases, perhaps, as so often, as much Pauillac as St-Julien in style, especially in a vintage such as this. If it seems reasonable value, buy and salt away for at least 15 years, by which time it will be gratifyingly rewarding. 2034–50+. | 93