Tim Atkin | Lots of spicy, coffee-bean oak, tannic, and a little firm, with a green, herbal undertone. Slightly oak-steered at the moment, but with plenty of underlying concentration and freshness, and plenty of grip. A claret lover’s Rioja. Needs five years or more. | 92

Simon Field | Deep purple; a rich, oaky nose; syrup, toffee apple, damson, and plum. Oaky grip, tight and imposing; behind it, there is dark chocolate, a hint of tapenade, and a rigorous clasp of firm acidity. The alcohol calibration is high, the fruit notably ripe and, as yet, fairly raw. More time required. | 89

Andrew Jefford | Dense, dark black-red; still opaque at the core. Rather gruff and unyielding as first sniffed, but deep, true, pure, and with a serious core of dense plum fruit rather hedged in by oak for now. Time may yet draw the wine into articulacy. The palate is exactly as the nose sketched out: very dense and serious wine, which has good aging potential, but finds itself in a slightly raw and inarticulate phase just now. I score as is, but things may improve with time: There is undoubtedly potential here. | 89