The debut vintage for La Gomerie, the 1995 Le Pin-look-alike is showing fabulously well after bottling. The color is dense ruby/purple, and the nose offers up exotic aromas of Asian spices, soy, coffee, and ripe berry/cherry fruit. This full-bodied, thick, unctuously-textured wine is marvelously concentrated, with plenty of sweet, well-integrated tannin. The acidity is low, which only adds to the voluptuous personality of this strikingly rich, head-turning effort. Anticipated maturity: Now-2012.Wow! The first two vintages of this wine have turned out to be spectacular. Both of these wines performed even better in late November than they did earlier in the year. About 750 cases of this unfiltered wine are made from a 6.2 acre parcel planted with 100% Merlot. The average age of the vines is 35 years. This is one of the new breed, handcrafted reds that are particularly in vogue in St.-Emilion where the malolactic takes place in oak, the wines are aged in 100% new oak for 15-18 months, and are bottled without filtration, and probably without fining if the tannins are sweet.

Spice, plum and cedar on the nose. Full-bodied, with chewy tannins and a medium finish. Give it time.--'95/'96 Bordeaux retrospective. Best after 2007. -JS