Closed and difficult to fathom, this wine is certainly not performing up to what I expected from my initial tasting. Either this wine is going through an ungraceful stage, or I simply overrated it from barrel. Deep ruby in color, with the classic black cherry, licorice, spice box, and cedary nose, the firm, structured, medium-bodied flavors exhibit excellent depth and the potential for longevity, but then clamp down tightly with a wall of tannin and acids. This is a wine to forget for at least 5-6 years. Drink it over the following 15-20.

Ruby-red. Very dark aromas of medicinal black cherry and licorice. Supple and moderately sweet but a bit youthfully bound-up. Flavors of black cherry, dark chocolate and licorice are currently shortened by the wine's building tannins. Does it have enough mid-palate stuffing?

Tasted at Bordeaux Index's annual 10-Year On tasting in London. I was not particularly enamoured by the 2006 Château Magdelaine from barrel, so after ten years, the question remains...was I too mean? Maybe. That said, I find the aromatics here more diffuse than the 2006 Canon-la-Gaffelière, missing Magdelaine's usual cohesion and finesse. The palate is stocky, brittle in the mouth with dry tannin, tarry red berry fruit, a dash of white pepper with quite an austere finish. While I accept that I may have been harsh in barrel all those years ago, fact is, there are far superior wines from this "discontinued" estate out there. Tasted January 2016.

Relatively light crimson. Simple red wine nose – even slightly jammy. Low-key nose and very mild palate impact. Compact with a very dry finish. Grainy, sandy tannins. Fresh fruit. Simple at this stage but neat and comfortable in its own skin. Discreet but well balanced. Really very easy, not much structure, although the result is actually quite a nice short term drink. Lightly inky. Pretty dry tannins insist on the finish but not horribly overdone. Neat medium intensity finish. (JR)