Now that it's in bottle, the 2014 Cote Rotie La Turque has exceeded all of my earlier expectations. It's got those classic Côte Rôtie elements on the nose of smoked bacon, olives and violets, seamlessly entwined with supple tannins and raspberry fruit. Medium to full-bodied, it's silky and fine, showing tremendous length and complexity on the finish. On this occasion, La Turque came to the head of the class as the most approachable, exciting and elegant of the three La Las.

Inky ruby. Powerful, deep-pitched aromas of ripe black and blue fruits, violet, incense, exotic spices and minerals. Stains the palate with intense blueberry, cherry liqueur and floral pastille flavors that stretch and become sweeter with aeration. The mix of power and finesse here is fabulous. A strikingly long, youthfully tannic finish shows superb delineation and leaves sweet blue fruit and spicecake qualities behind.

Very dark crimson. High-toned liquorice nose – incontrovertibly black in every sense! Juicy and exotic. Really rather fine and very promising. (JR)