This full-bodied, modern-styled St.-Emilion offers a sensational perfume of smoky barbecue, jammy black currants, kirsch, licorice, and a touch of pain grille. Fleshy, savory, and full-bodied, it has shed much of its tannin, but still possesses abundant structure. It is an intense, modern-styled, mouthfilling, sumptuous, attention-getting wine to drink over the next decade.

The Becots, Gérard and Dominique, have produced a stylish, modern wine that powers black, sweet fruits through the deceptively soft tannins. Tarry flavors and layers of new wood give the wine a new world character. (RV)

Bright medium ruby. Smoky aromas of black raspberry, roast coffee, meat and nutty oak. Silky and supple on entry, then lush and sweet in the middle, with expansive, slightly jammy plum, currant, chocolate and licorice flavors. Nicely structured and firm for a wine this rich and sweet, thanks to solid underlying acidity and substantial ripe, toothcoating tannins. A very broad, consistent, concentrated wine that should unfold nicely over the next decade or so.