A nice way to start the evening, ripe pear and white fruits and gentle floral notes over a chalky mineral base. It's rather rich and broad on the palate, but still nicely balanced with lively acids beneath.

Premoxed - maybe there's still some fruit here to enjoy, but it's deep gold in colour and dominated by nutty and sherried notes.

Drinking so well right now with a core of fresh pear and citrus fruit accented by gentle vanilla, floral and stony elements; very fragrant, polished and so vibrant and lively on the palate with a bright acid spine beneath keeping it really refreshing.

Poured blind before we got into the Bordeaux. It's rich and quite ripe with a sappy plummy fruit and black cherries and a minty/herbal topnote, but there's also bright acidity beneath keeping it fresh and light on its feet. Very tasty.

A bit disappointing; rather aromatically reticent at first and it never really opens up with air, always remaining a bit sullen and giving the impression that it's holding a lot in reserve. The palate conveys a core of rich dark fruit augmented by developed cedary and earthy elements, but while it's very well balanced and polished, it doesn't live up to the level of other wines I've had from this estate.

A wow the moment the cork's pulled, this is drinking superbly with a lovely, complex fragrance combining layers of savoury smoky, earthy, cedar, tobacco and dark fruited flavours into an aroma that's hard to move away from. This is in a great place right now with the same complexity and depth on the palate, tannins coming across quite well integrated and a polished, silken palate presence conveying power with a sense of restraint. Fantastic.

There's a vivid forestal green character here that brings Clos Rougeard to mind, very fragrant and nicely developed with the fruit quite restrained and gentler tobacco, leathery, and savoury earthy elements emerging around the green herbal/forestal elements. It's not a powerful wine, but a leaner, more polished expression of Bordeaux that I like a great deal.

Riper and more flamboyant and exotic than the PLL/Talbot poured alongside it, yet conveying a sense of restraint and tremendous finesse with each sip. There's a wonderful aroma here, higher toned floral and spicy notes around sweet red and dark fruits and developed savoury elements, and there's a sense of polish and remarkable purity to the flavours on the palate. Very elegant, wonderfully balanced and long.

Shows a fair bit of that classic Cordier character with leathery and earthy funk around tobacco and red fruited flavours, drinking really well now with the tannins nicely resolved, but not showing the same level of depth and complexity as the Magdelaine and PLL poured alongside.

Classic Haut-Brion aromatics, smoky, gravelly, so savoury and complex and drinking so well right now with the structure resolved and the layers of tobacco, smoke, earth, leather and fruit all coming together seamlessly on the nose and palate. Powerful and at the same time very elegant, so well balanced and with such length. Outstanding.

Darker fruited and more powerful than the Haut-Brion, this is more an iron fist with a rich core of fruit framed by floral, spicy and cedary elements, and a firm tannic backbone still suggesting at plenty of time ahead. There's plenty of complexity and aromatic depth now, but the structure and richness here suggest there's a lot of time ahead.

Came across a little overripe for my tastes with a roasted quality to the rich red fruit here, and a funky black tea-like aspect to the nose. There's decent acidity here, but it doesn't have the depth or finesse I normally expect from older Gruaud.

Not overly complex, but drinking nicely right now with a core of bright red fruits framed by developed tobacco, earthy and faintly leathery notes on a polished, medium weight frame. It comes across fresher and more lively than the '90 Gruaud, though doesn't show that green, herbal character I normally look for/like so much in Sociando.

Another fantastic showing for one of my favourite wines. Powerful, rich, long and absolutely compelling with layers of rich fruit, tobacco, leathery Cordier funk, earth and more exotic truffled and floral elements all coming together seamlessly in a fragrant, impeccably balanced package.

As powerful and rich as the Gruaud poured alongside with layers of rich fruit, tobacco, herbs and Cordier funk, but this doesn't show the same finesse and balance - there's a faintly stewed character to the fruit, a tinge of alcoholic warmth on the back end and it feels a little clumsy and heavy-handed alongside the Gruaud.

Lovely aromatics, smoky, gravelly, cedary and very savoury, and I could have kept smelling this throughout the evening if the '86 Gruaud wasn't in the adjacent glass. It's powerful and packed with a core of rich red and dark fruit beneath the savoury tobacco/earth/smoky elements, and although it still seems rather young with a firm tannic backbone, there's a sense of purity and elegance here that I find very compelling.