Saturated ruby-red color. Sweet, expressive aromas of black raspberry, black cherry, licorice and oak spice; rather Burgundian. Concentrated, ripe black fruit flavor complicated by leather and game notes. Sound acids give this a rare vibrancy for the vintage. Finishes with excellent grip and very fine tannins. Superb potential.

Tasted blind at the Valandraud vertical at the property, the 1997 Valandraud has a well-defined bouquet with earthy red berry fruit, iron filing, orange rind and touches of menthol developing with time. The palate is medium-bodied with rather scrawny tannin, fully mature herbaceous fruit with a leafy, rather autumnal finish that does not have immense depth, but at least has sufficient freshness. It actually improved in the glass and yet it never quite delivered that penetration or depth of fruit on the finish. To call it "Valandraud-lite" would be too disparaging, but that is how it comes across after twenty years. Tasted December 2016.