Wine Advocate
par Robert Parker le 30/04/1997
Four different tastings of this wine left me perplexed. The 1996 l'Evangile exhibits a fabulous opaque purple color, and the classic l'Evangile nose of jammy black-raspberry fruit. That's the good news. The bad news is that once the wine hits the palate, the tannin level cuts a severe, hard, astringent path that should cause concern. Yes, this is a serious vin de garde, but I would like to have tasted more opulence, and detected more charm and fruit. Nevertheless, the wine is highly-extracted, dense, medium-bodied, and powerful. It may shed its cloak of tannin, flesh out in the barrel aging process, and turn out to be a 25-30 year wine of considerable stature, and, more importantly - pleasure. This wine will need 7-10 years of aging before it can be drunk. I will closely follow the evolution of this broodingly tannic wine. Anticipated maturity: 2005-2025.