After reading varying opinions on this wine, I thought I'd pick one up to try on the way to Dave's to celebrate his new job. Oddly compressed cork, reminiscent of a much older bottle of champagne. In the glass, light gold in colour, with persistent micro-bubbles. On the nose, this champagne offered up scents of lemon zest, fresh baked apple crumble, mineral, toffee, coffee grinds, yeast and bread dough. On the palate, quite rich, with more of the citrus, apple, mineral and toffee notes carrying through to the slightly dry finish. In perfect balance here, with an excellent backbone of acidity.

Popped and poured, served blind. Followed over approximately 2 hours. Deep garnet in the glass, with a nose of sweet red and black cherries, mineral, black tea leaves, light florals, tar and with sufficient aeration, a waxy note emerged, that I quite liked. On the palate, rather plush and textured, showing similar notes of cherry, mineral and tea. Structurally, this is much weaker than I was expected from the nose; slightly less than moderate tannin and acidity. Finish is of moderate length.

Decanted quickly for sediment and served immediately. Beautifully mature Bordeaux nose, showing black currants, cassis, cigar, leather, cedar, earth, light mint, mushroom, coffee and chocolate. On the palate, currants, leather, minerals and tobacco, showing good intensity, but maintaining a bit of finesse and elegance. Fully integrated tannin, with just enough acidity to keep this lively still. If I had any more bottles of this, I would drink them over the next year, as this appears to be at absolute peak, or maybe even in slight decline.

Decanted quickly for sediment and served immediately. Another excellent looking cork. Followed in the glass for approximately 2 hours. Perfumed nose of dark fruits, florals, cedar, tobacco, earth, graphite and truffle. On the palate, rich and silky, showing blackberries, earth and tobacco. Still a bit of lingering tannin, and some moderate acidity to keep everything in balance. Finish is nice and long. If I had any more of these, I'd probably err on the side of caution and drink within the next 5 years, as age may bring further complexity by way of tertiary notes, but likely at the sacrifice of some of this gorgeous fruit.

Popped and poured, followed over approximately an hour and a half. The nose here is reminiscent of southern Rhone, with notes of sweet cherries, iodine, spice, a touch of horse stable, earth, finishing with a light note of saline/sea air. On the palate, more sweet red fruits, earth and spice. Slightly elevated acidity serves as a necessary counterbalance to the sweetness of the fruit. Finish is of moderate length. Overall, this bottle did not show the complexity of previous bottles, but this could be due to the infamous bottle variation. This was a rather clean bottle, and I would have preferred a bit more brettanomyces to add further interest.

Popped and poured, followed over 1.5 hours. As with my previous experience, this took some time to unfurl in the glass. Once it did, it was pretty much as I remembered it; bright red fruits, campfire, fried bacon, pepper, olive, spice, caramel, bubblegum, licorice and tar. On the palate, sweet and tart red fruits, herbs, spice, olive and smoke. Very rich and textured mouthfeel, without being obnoxious. Great balance, showing some moderate structure, with some slight drying tannin on the long finish. Just a hair behind the last bottle we had.