A restrained yet equally pure and even more complex nose only grudgingly reveals its aromas of both red and dark pinot fruit, spice, floral and discreet Asian-style tea nuances. The tighter and strikingly well-delineated flavors are even stonier while displaying a taut muscularity on the very serious if impeccably well-balanced finish. In a word, gorgeous. *Don't miss! Outstanding*

Saturated ruby-red. Very ripe blueberry and dark chocolate aromas project an almost liqueur-like quality. Then dense and sappy in the mouth, conveying an impression of sound acidity (this is the lowest in pH among these 2016s at 3.3) but not quite the texture or early balance of the Caillerets. The intense flavors of dark berries, licorice and menthol are at once chocolatey and slightly medicinal. With its significant baby fat, this wine boasts outstanding volume for Taillepieds and may well require a decade in the cellar to approach its peak. The yield here was only about 25 hectoliters per hectare, a bit higher than the Caillerets. (ST)

The Taillepieds reveals wilder scents of briary fruit, spice and game bird, framed by new oak. On the palate the wine is more austere and powerful than the Caillerets, with a sapid, tensile chassis of tannin and a reserved, saline finish. This will need some time in the cellar to unwind, but it’s promising. (WK)