Estimate
...very complex and playfully fragrant, spicy edge with graphite, roasted coffee and woody spices...very fresh blackberries, red and dark cherries and blueberries...stunning array of deeply fleshy fruit flavors with a superb sense of length and powerful, ripe tannin, underpinning vibrant, fleshy fruit that is beautifully assembled in a refined, elegant and impressively pure mode. So long and pure. Silky and elegant. A real masterpiece...
...dense, powerful, meaty bouquet of smoked black fruits, chocolate, bouquet garni, bay leaf, mint, and plenty of earthy minerality...full-bodied and incredibly concentrated, with a stacked mid-palate and loads of ripe tannins...
...concentrated and rich...unleavened by any new oak. Dark and tarry, it delivers notes of espresso and black olive, plummy fruit and roasted meat. Full-bodied and dense on the palate, it ends long, dark and savory.
...blackberry and blueberry flavors, with pops of minerally loam, licorice, black pepper and oolong tea. The tannins are fine-grained and dense, but this remains fresh overall, delivering vibrant juiciness that lends focus and energy to the long, expressive finish.
...polished, chocolaty plushness...denser, with more earthy, olivey, charred oak notes...with fleshy plum and brambly berry fruit woven into those more barrel-derived secondary notes... Tannins are muscular and spicy and also precise and refined, knitting together the plump fruit.
Denser and more closed on the nose... Lots of tar and liquorice, and plenty of heat too. There's an elemental, ferrous quality here, that bears strong comparison to Hermitage... Magisterial!