The Drinks Business
par Colin Hay le 07/05/2024
70% Merlot; 30% Cabernet Franc; 60% new oak; a final yield of 46 hl/ha; 14% alcohol; tasted twice, the first time at Belgrave and then at Beauséjour with Joséphine Duffau-Lagarrosse, with practically identical notes; Axel Marchal and Julien Viaud co-consult and an entirely new wine-making facility, offering yet more precision, will be in place for the 2024 vintage). Cool and shimmering, with a fabulous energy and vivacity. Graphite, a hint of cedar, blueberry and black pen ink, a little pencil-shaving note, some incense and parfumier’s extracts of rose, peony and violet. Walnut oil. Dense and compact, with a lovely broad frame and the most gracious but also pixilating of calcaire tannins entering between and, in so doing, delineating the milles feuilles of silk and cashmere that seem interlayered and interwoven. So gracious. And with such finesse. More delicate and refined than the 2022 and at least as impressive. I love the shape of this in the mouth: the tannins somehow outlining the lozenge-shaped parameters of a black hole with the density increasing exponentially towards the centre – a kind of vanishing point, just like that to which the wine tapers on the seemingly never ending finish. It’s beautifully composed with a tight, densely charged core. The top terroir is presented with such eloquence, respect and articulation. Succulent, salivating, sapid and fabulously refreshing.