A fair amount of wood, but the fruit concentration holds up the roasted spices. Aromas of meat, minerals, five spice powder and ripe blue and dark berries. Medium- to full-bodied on the palate, with a tense, nervy finish. Really long and well crafted. Drink from 2026. (ZS)

The 2019 Chinon “la Rougerie” bottling Domaine de Pallus is another excellent, single vineyard wine. The soils here have more clay in them than in either the Croix Boissée or the Clos de Pallus, making for a slightly broader-shouldered example of Chinon. The bouquet is deep and complex, delivering a superb constellation of cassis, menthol, cigar ash, espresso, dark soil tones, tree bark, a nice touch of new oak and a smoky topnote. On the palate the wine is full-bodied, complex and shows off fine depth at the core, with fine focus and balance, lovely soil signature and a long, well balanced and ripely tannic finish. Due to the clay in the soils here, this wine starts out a bit more chewy in its youth than the other two single vineyard bottlings from Monsieur Sourdais, but it has every bit as much potential as either of these other two superb wines.

Destemmed at 95% and vinified in foudres of 30 hectolitres, the 2019 Chinon La Rougerie reveals a deep, oaky bouquet of spices, clove and toast mingled with blackberry notes. Medium to full-bodied, rich and concentrated, extracted and dense, it's dominated by oaky notes that conclude in a long, but oaky, and dry finish. It's too oaky for my taste. (YC)