(true Charmes, harvested late; 30% vendange entier; racked): Saturated dark red. Very dark, high-pitched, thoroughly ripe aromas of blackberry, licorice and violet. Savory, juicy and intense, with lovely floral lift to the intense blackberry flavor. The tight finish shows very good cut and yet I picked up a faint whiff of nut skin. This needs following. Range: 90-93?

This is the first wine to really display a lot of wood influence and it's very generous indeed as it dominates the dark berry fruit and earth aromas. There is excellent richness and fine phenolic maturity to the round and seductively textured medium weight flavors that culminate in a dusty, mouth coating and impressively persistent finish. My projected range implicitly assumes that the oak will be successfully integrated with sufficient time in bottle. Barrel Sample: 91-93