Andrew Jefford: Deep, translucent red without any purple. Exuberant, lively raspberry scents with a billowing peony freshness; a touch of fresh-cut hay, too, which perhaps goes with the Loire territory. You find that meadows-and-hills style on the palate, too, allied to brisk acidity, some firm tannins, a little bitterness; plenty of cool, shapely fruit, too, though. There’s just a touch of the tart inkiness that can be such a marked feature of the Cab Franc wines further downriver. Typical and enjoyable wine with the cool of the North on it, but not in any way chilly or skeletal or green. Moderately concentrated. | 88

Jasper Morris: Clear, bright, youthful crimson. An attractive dense raspberry nose. This grows deliciously in the glass. The fruit comes evenly across the palate with a little bit of oak at the finish, though without any tannic impact. How long is the finish? The fruit does not quite kick on to the back of the palate. This wine is good to drink now and probably will not repay significant keeping. But I can imagine sitting out on a sunny evening with this in my hand sniffing at the delicious bouquet with great pleasure. | 87

Catherine Petrie: A beautiful limpid ruby in the glass. Smoky, rippling red fruit, cinnamon-spiced cranberries. A little lift on the nose falls just the right side, and helps articulate the fruit character. Chalky tannins on the palate combine with the crunchy acidity. This is packed with flavor and feels ready to drink now, but I would be wary of that lift developing much further after lengthy cellaring and dominating the otherwise attractive character of the wine. The fruit begins to fade, and it loses a couple of points. | 88