Neil Beckett | Grégory uses different, but equally meaningful, images for this cuvée—"the beast of the cellar," "a wild horse that needs to be tamed"—and for such a special wine you do indeed need to reach for the words. The power stems partly from the distinguished site and partly from the genetic material of the vines—an old massal selection, now 80 years old, which even in the 2018 vintage yielded only 28hl/ha. A medium-deep ruby, natural luster. Aromatically, very intense, pure, and profound, with light positive pepper notes (50% whole-bunch). Grand cru concentration and scale, but grand cru class, too, with no roughness to the abundant but very fine-grain, silky, and supple tannins. It may be "un Monsieur," as Grégory says, but he has revealed his gentler side, partly (Grégory is sure) because there is no stiffening SO2 starch to his collar. | 94–95