Chocolate mint, truffle, flowers, dried plums, smoke and cherries create the attention-seeking perfume. I love all the fresh, dark-chocolate coated cherries, silky tannins, freshness and the dark chocolate end note which comes along with salty, dried plums. At 20 years of age this has reached maturity. Drink from 2024-2038. Tasted Jan 2024

The 2004 l’Eglise-Clinet is an outstanding wine for the vintage, where notes both from bottles and magnum have been uniformly impressive. It has a fragrant bouquet with copious red cherry, crushed strawberry, orange sorbet and violet aromas that you would think come from a warmer growing season. The palate is beautifully balanced with fine-grain tannin, a fine bead of acidity, resolutely classic in style with a persistent tobacco-laced finish. It is a quintessential l’Eglise-Clinet that can be broached now, but will also age. Tasted at a private dinner in London.

A brilliant effort from proprietor Denis Durantou, this classic Pomerol reveals a dark purple color as well as sweet aromas of raspberries, black cherries, cassis, and hints of caramel and vanilla. It is made in a layered, medium to full-bodied style with moderately high tannin, and superb concentration, structure, and depth. Anticipated maturity: 2011-2025.

Good ruby-red. Black raspberry and griotte cherry aromas complicated by sexy chocolate and espresso. Sweet, high-toned and captivating, with lovely ripe acidity giving shape and lift to the black raspberry, plum and chocolate flavors. Impressively rich and complex for the vintage. Has the stuffing to support its substantial tannins. Very sexy, classic Pomerol that should offer early drinkability but evolve in bottle for a decade or two.

In bottle. Relatively high yields of more than 40 hl/ha rather than the usual closer to 30 hl/ha. Racy and fluid. Not that concentrated or rich but juicy and lightly inky with real energy and drive. Long. (JR)