Stephen Brook | The nose is distinctly subdued, with just a hint of apricots and nuts. It’s a broad and fleshy style that comes close to soupiness because the acidity seems low. It’s pleasant enough in an undemanding way, but it does lack vigor and energy. Essentially short. | 86

Simon Field | Straw-lemon color, a fade at the rim; stone-fruit aromas, citrus, with something from the hay wain beyond that. En bouche there is a similar austerity, Marsanne discipline and grip, but less of the pleasure principle that sometimes one seeks with these relatively southerly vines, protected from the Mistral, unlike their cousins in Hermitage. Competent and honest of construction, with, on retasting, just the briefest hint of lemon-posset sweetness on the finish. The best tunes are not always in a minor key... | 89

Andrew Jefford | A little paler than its peers: silver-gold. Complex and multilayered aromas, with nuts and chocolate truffle, apricot and cream providing a seamless scented quilt in the glass. But there’s also a freshening, grassy note, too, as if the wine contained a dash of Sauvignon Blanc somewhere inside it. Concentrated and commanding on the palate, with ample depth and concentration. Vivid, resonant fruits in bold style. I would leave this fine wine for two or three years to bring out its aromatic nuances on the palate, as well as in the sniffed glass. That grassy freshness is here on the palate, too, just as it is in the aromatics, to balance off all the richer notes. Impressive wine. | 93