Quite mellow with some gentle spice. Broad. Would go nicely with cold goose.a little flat and lifeless after a while. Good but lacking cf some older versions of this. ***

Nicely rich and full bodied. Slightly browning cut Bramleys on the nose. Broad, quite full, ripe, but enough acidity to balance. Bare ****

Cleaner on the nose than the 02 alongside, but not particularly expressive. Cleaner palate too. Very nice without being memorable (not meant as faint praise). Top ***

Reasonably rich and full but acetone on the nose. Takes over and dominates this. Not a relaxed/settled bottle. A little grubby. Curiously, a previous bottle of this in 2011 was jittery too.

A bit coarse and winey on the nose. There's a slightly grubby, coarse character here on the nose with a splash of peche de vigne coming through. Not my thing. All the gas is upfront on the palate with no mid-palate finesse or finish. Reminds me of a vin mousseaux along the lines of Pol Remy. Really not my cup of tea. Interesting to try, but if this is Franciacorta, I'll give them a miss. Representative?

Typical Pol. Nicely rich and rounded with good cut. Developing well. ****

Again, quite rounded. A touch oxidative too. A little flatter than the Pol. Less rounded fruit. Tasty and with some interest. ***1/2

A bit more yeast and CO2 on the nose cf previous wines. Quite full. Nicely rounded. Satisfying rather than scintillating. None the worse for that though. ***

Nice focus. Precise, clean, Mesnil chalky fruit. All there, but currently do not disturb. ***(*)

A bit rounder than the 08 alongside, fruit a little riper. A bit more showy without the poise and cut. More immediately friendly but lacks some polish. ***1/2

Very full, dense, meaty nose with crunchy red fruit. Huge on the attack. Very full red fruit. Lots of potential. Proper wine. Dense, some minerality, but dense red fruit. Full on. Needs time to show its real class. Lots of interest. ***(*)

Fullest bright straw. Very deep and meaty nose. Very complex. A step up in weight, oomph and depth cf the Rodez. A little more depth and complexity and poise cf a bottle of this last week. The acidity comes through nicely on the finish to give it some line and definition. Yum. Nose keeps evolving and changing. Now a touch of crème pat, then toasty rich and vinous again. Multifaceted and fascinating. Lovely. *****

Nicely clean and fresh on the nose initially, and an obvious contrast to the Krug, but this also shows a touch of citrus spice and something a touch synthetic on the nose. A curious blend of minerality and richness. Not sure about that slightly synthetic top note. Could go either way but not currently a fan, though it suffers following the Krug. ***?