Andrew Jefford | Dark, dense purple-black-red in appearance, opaque at the core. Exciting and (as so often for VCC) more vivacious, alert, alive, and sheerly fruit-powered than some of its Pomerol peers. Rooty, earthy, sappy, and exciting plum, damson, and sloe fruits; urgent and compelling. Yet I can’t just leave it there, since the refinement and finesse is exceptional, too: This is fragrant, graceful, and enchanting. Juniper and cade behind the fruits. A great aromatic profile. Yet another totally bamboozling 2017 from Pomerol: a complete class better than its peers from other communes, and with magnificently assured ripeness and energy, purity and depth, creaminess and sensual appeal. There are extraordinarily beautiful fruits here, finer than in almost any other wine, Lafleur included, though Lafleur’s textures are finer and its aromatic complex is (somehow—essay needed) more articulate and more compelling. This is a great VCC and a great Pomerol by any measure, with at least a couple of decades of life ahead of it. If you value spine and posture of fruit above all other qualities, this is hard to beat within the commune this year. | 96

Michael Schuster | Rich and plummy and mineral to smell; full, generous, fresh, and withatannin texture of great finesse; sweetly ripe in flavor, plummy, complex, subtly racy across the palate, mouth-coating, and with wonderful fruit persistence. A fragrant and very beautiful wine, slightly more powerful in impression than this wine often is. Its current beauty notwithstanding, this is still quite a tight bud. 2030–40+. | 94