This nearly 12-acre parcel on the clay and limestone plateau above Pavie Decesse has produced a killer succession of wines ever since the debut vintage of 1996. The 2000, tasted in preparation for a big article on that vintage, is just out of this world, as is the 1998, and remarkably, a very underrated wine, the 1997. The 2009 looks like another phenomenal effort. Is it better than 2005, 2000, or 1998? It’s too early to tell. A blend of 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Franc, this wine tips the scales at an all-time high of 14.5% alcohol. Consultant Stephane Derenoncourt, who makes this wine for Stephan von Neipperg, said the crop yields were 18 hectoliters per hectare. The wine is painfully rich, but at the same time retains an extraordinary elegance and freshness. A full-bodied wine with plenty of raspberries, red and black currants, and a cool minerality, the wine is full-bodied, powerful, yet at the same time possesses sweet tannins, a very layered mouthfeel, and dazzling purity and length. It will need 5-7 years of cellaring and will drink well for three decades. (Tasted four times.)

Tasted at Canon-la-Gaffeliere, cropped at 17hl/ha on 6th October and 13th October (Merlot and Cabernet Franc respectively), this is a blend of 80% and 20%. The La Mondotte '09 has a sensuous, opulent bouquet with ravishing red-berried fruits, black plum, cassis and a touch of fresh fig. The palate is medium-bodied with cashmere tannins, very harmonious with beautifully integrated oak, this 2009 actually reminds me of the sensational 2005. The minerality really comes through towards the finish. Vivacious. Tasted March 2010.

[80M/20CF] Inky black red; incredibly exhuberant ripe fruit nose - sweet, oak vanillary; a wine of great concentration, but no excess, finely, firmly tannic; very old vine flavour in character, an impressive mass of fruit in the mouth, warm, sweet, powerful without being heavy; a fine vital freshness defining all that matter, long and chewy in the mouth, but without coarseness, and long, sweet, warm and scented to finish. The acceptable face of extreme new wave, without the raisiny character on many of the oaky, low yield, super ripe wines. Powerful all the same – you have to like the style, and it's not for me! But impossible not to be impressed. 2022-40