Andrew Jefford | Dark black-red, just off-opaque. Deep, vivid, spicy, and exuberant, as the Couronne was, with fresh fruits and bright spices. I was expecting an extra pulse of pure fruit, though, by comparison with the second wine and yet this doesn’t seem to be there, attractive though the aromas are. Lots of exuberance and an almost sherbetty style of fruit. The aromatic profile of this wine prefigures boisterous palate pleasure; the wine is concentrated, true and long. The extra oaking of the grand vin, though, rather mitigates the pleasure for me, so I feel that (unusually for this vintage) the second wine might almost be the better buy. | 88

Michael Schuster | Light earthy nose; light, crisp, slightly dry in tannin. Pleasant lesser, red-fruit dry claret, but just with not very much there, in terms of depth, scope, length for its classed growth status. The dry wood texture suggests this is more likely to dry out rather than improve, but anyway, this is one to drink soon. Now to 2024. | 87