Disgorged 05/02/10, back label code L-OR02-10. A little simple and one-dimensional, full of bright pear and white fruited flavours with gentle yeasty accents and a surprising touch of sweetness on the back end. There's pleasant acidity here and a glass goes down nicely, but it's not particularly interesting.

Wild aromatics - a compelling, unique fragrance combining all sorts of floral elements, burning candle wax, metallic notes and rich white fruited flavours. Very rich, full bodied and powerful, combining ripe fruit in the mouth with a vivid minerality, creamy notes and impressive acidity, finishing long with a touch of glyceral sweetness on the back end.

Starting to show some signs of development, hints of petrol and smoke on the nose amidst powerful tropical and red fruited flavours and bright florality. This is very ripe and sweet, Auslese-like but there's impressive balance with bright acidity beneath all the baby fat and primary fruit, and a saline mineral character that emerges with some time. Very nice, though this really needs to be left alone for some time.

Starts out feeling quite advanced and tired with pale red fruits and faint balsamic notes, tasting like a pretty generic, tired old wine. With some air it really freshens up though as the aromatics become more saline, earthy and meaty and the fruit starts to deepen in complexion. Certainly suffers in comparison to the '89, but still quite pleasant.

Hard to believe this is 20+ years old. A fantastic, intoxicating aromatic profile combining all sorts of sauvage leathery, earthy and iron flavours with deep red fruits and cigar smoke. In the mouth it comes across incredibly youthful with tremendous power and a sense of rusticity; ripe red and dark fruited flavours over savoury meaty and earthy notes with grainy tannins still lurking in the background and the stuffing and balance to age a while longer. Very impressive.

Flat out wow. This comes across perfectly mature and ready to drink now. Beautiful developed aromatics combining a vivid porky meatiness, gentle red fruits and forestal earthy and herbal notes; really polished and elegant in the mouth with the tannins fully resolved and all the flavour and structural elements merging into a seamless whole that conveys flavour with a lightness of touch and incredible finesse. Wonderful wine.

First bottle corked. Damnit.

Young young young. This almost feels a little brutish and clumsy compared to the beautifully finessed and resolved '94; packed with bright fruit and meaty elements around a spine of firm tannins and bright acids but very primary and raw right now. I'd love to taste this in several years, but hands off for now.

Second bottle corked as well - even nastier TCA here. Screw you Portugal!

Ugh. A powerhouse of massively ripe, slightly syrupy dark fruits with a roasted tinge to the flavours. Monolithic, one-note wine that was hard to drink after the first sip.

Not quite as massively overripe and heavy as the '99; this starts out with a nice scent of meaty and gamey notes leading into a palate full of rich, dark plummy fruit with a touch of new oak on the back end. It's a bit too ripe and modern for my tastes and not particularly interesting.

Quite impressive. This is big, powerful but nicely balanced, combining rich dark fruited flavours with savoury earthy, smoky and tarry accents. There's plenty of concentration and gloss to the fruit, but also surprising acidity that gives it a sense of freshness and keeps it quite elegant.

Shocker of the night (in a very good way). I was expecting something rather slick, fruit-driven and modern, more in line with the Le Pavillon, but the aromatics here are all leathery funk, forestal earth and smoked meats. There's plenty of ripe Syrah fruit here, but the other savoury and funky elements provide a nice counterpoint, and there's fantastic balance with a spine of bright acids and firm tannins. Very young, but nicely balanced now and I'd love to see how this will age.