Caroline feels that over the last four to five vintages, this wine has really picked up in personality. Oozing forest berries, fireplace embers, bay leaf and smoked meats, this has enormous palate density—like peeling back the layers of an onion. The overall character is a bit rugged, and this needs some time to settle down.

Ruby to crimson. The nose is a bit discombobulated by slightly over present oak and some reduction, but the palate comes across very well, with an energy of strawberry and raspberry fruit, backed by adequate structure. Middleweight plus with an attractive texture and long finish. Drink from 2030-2036. Tasted Nov 2024.

Note: from a parcel measuring .26 ha planted in 1943 and 1953. This is also quite firmly reduced and revealing nothing aromatically. The succulent, suave and seductively textured flavors are unusually rich if less powerful and stony than those of the Lavaut, all wrapped in a dusty and ever-so-mildly warm finale.