Tight black fruits, run through with espresso, cocoa bean and bitter black chocolate shavings. Brilliant quality, with tannic heft and precision. Takes a jump halfway through the palate and lifts right off. I have tasted this several times over the past few months, and it consistently performs. 75% new oak, Eric Boissenot consults.

Plenty of fierce Pauillac tannins here, this has grip and character, full of black chocolate and smoked earth. Needs the full ten years before the nuances will be fully revealed, but the construction and the precision are already of full display. Confident blackberry, cassis, bilberry fruits, smoked cedar and crushed mint leaf, moving slowly but surely forward through the wall of tannins. Excellent stuff from the Lynch Bages team. 75% new oak.