Tim Atkin | Serious, meaty, firm, and little reductive with lots of assertive mocha oak. Firm, slightly chewy palate. Herbal, dry, and a little chewy. | 89

Simon Field | Dark, uncompromising color, firm at the rim; a nose of cassis and black cherry; rosy apples and a promise of summer pudding; fresh and appealing. The palate has the reassuring cordon of fine etched tannins, but otherwise it is the primary, almost early-season fruit that holds court, rather reassuringly in a region where one often defers to the generously ripe and the indulgent as a matter of meteorological course. | 90

Andrew Jefford | Dense, dark black-red, still with some opacity. Sweet, warm, plummy, spicy, and enticing: Fresh, lively wine with good use of oak. The wine has the acid emphasis we see in many of the 2016s, but it is held in check here and there is a delicious firmness of fruit, and certainly enough to carry both oak and tannins. The overall effect is satisfying and classical, though perhaps not seductive. | 90