Sweet black fruit on the nose with a blackberry apalte and very soft tannins.

Great value at £132

Needs time. At the moment, it's showing alcohol and not much else. Everything is in the right place and this will probably be delightful in due course.

Another of tonight's stunners.

Hints of chocolate. Very good balance and structure. Will improve?.
Lovely in full mouthful.

This has a much fruitier nose than the straight CNDP, but I'm rather worried that it's a bit lacking in structure.

Sweete fruit and pepper. Soft and easy drinking, but too expensive at £156

Very ripe, almost Australian in style. A nother good wine at a fair (£192) price.

Very good, but lacks a bit of body.

Burgundian fruit and grace on the palate with a blackberry nose that is curiously Rhonish.

Very Good.

Best 08 on show after the Clos des Papes. Blackberry palate and decent structure. All in all something of a surprise.

Like the 08, this is good. Actually, it's very very good.

Condrieu style nose.

This is by no means a bad wine, but I think there are better wines available here for the same price.

Absolutely explosive nose; the closest I can get is sherbet, but that rather insults what's on offer here.
The palate is rather like the 07 Vieux Telegraphe, relatively severe and restrained compared to the nose, but softens on the finish.

All 4 of the Avril wines tonight (08, 07, 06, 04) have strong juicy blackcurrant fruit. My first taste of Clos des Papes; it won't be my last.

Has developed a sweet liquorice nose and palate compared to the 08. That lovely sweet black fruit is there again, but I just have a slight concern over whether this wine has the structure to age as well as one might hope.

Very like the 07, but slightly more subtle. Slightly better structure?

I think I'd buy this over the 07...

Well, 6 years on from the vintage and the fruit doesn't disappear in a hurry - this still has the sweet blackcurranty fruitiness of the younger vintages.

I think it's begining to take on some secondary flavours, but this wine, while obviously "serious" is still enormous fun. Kind of like the end of Mahler 2; by no means lightweight, but very easy to just get carried along by its overall feeling of joy!

Wonderful apricot nose. Orange peel and honey palate. Beautiful acidity. Stunning, but drink young.

Cranberry colour. White pepper on nose and palate. Proper NOrthern Rhone syrah.

Like La Rosine, but more so on nose. More intense and tannic on palate. It needs the spicy oak and tannins to integrate, but it could be very good once they do.

Nose is more restrained than the Ogier Condrieu. Honey on palate with caramel finish. Well structured and very good. Slightly too alcoholic with a hint of burn, but this may well fade before the lovely crispness disappears too.

Quite a vivid cranberry colour again. Much softer than the Ogier Cote Rotie. I think it will drink much younger. Less good than the Ogier.

Alcohol is slightly out of kilter again, reinforcing my concerns about the 08. A glance at the bottle reveals this is only 13% which shows it's all about balance and that this ain't got it. Interesting nuances on the palate, but it's a fight to appreciate them over the alcohol.

That Condrieu nose is all there, but the palate has gone to glycerol and all the interesting nuances of the younger vintages seem to have disappeared.

I wonedr whether this wine will come again?

Pepper game and blackcurrants on the nose. Very tannic but intense dark soft fruit on palate. Good.

This wine gives nothing away. Slight mint on an elderflower! dominated nose. Palate has intense, raspberry dominated red fruit.

White pepper and rounded tannins.

Might well develop?

Much more like Cornas than some on show tonight. Decent price, but there are still better wines on show tonight.

Proper Rhone yumines. Disturbingly sof tannins - they are there, but they're phenomenanally soft.

Not great. Flabby. Could be because I tasted it out of order, but I won't be buying.

Drink young. Does nothing for me. Sweet and simple.

Good simple fare. Drink now. Very good value.

Gunpowder and pepper nose. White pepper palate, but lacks the interest of the 07.

Sweet, opulent red/black fruits on nose. Palate matches nose; good balance, tannins and acidity.

Sweet orange and grapefruit nose. The palate is mineral and restrained with good structure. Made from just Marsanne, I reckon this wants 4-5 years before drinking.

Salty and restrained, it gives nothing away. Seems classy though.

Peppery nose, but limited fruit. A little mean?

Peppery Rhone nose. Another stunning wine!!

Much sweeeter than the Montirius Vacqueryas. Will make lovely young drinking.

It's kiond of like a Burgundy; bucketloads of tannin, but elegant and pure. Good on a non typical Rhone way. Mineral notes.

Condrieu nose, but more elegant and mioneral. The palate's completely different though; really full bodied and opulent with a pleasant sourness, but not excessive.

Probably one to buy old, if one can find it anywhere.

Burgundian crunchy strawberry fruit, but with tannin. Utterly fantastic value!