The first wine of the first flight of this impossibly opulent vertical. Big young wine but already beautiful and fresh. Fresh white flowers and honeysuckle on top of pure chardonnay butter. Nice minerals and some salinity, especially in the finish.

Off and on nose. Toasted pine nuts and shaved coconut. Some mint and eucalyptus. Medium palate. Less impressive than the '09 and especially the '07 before and after respectively. The trouble with over the top verticals is that minor weaknesses in a given year are emphasized over the broad strokes that makes the domaine and vineyard great.

The best showing year between '09 and '06. Fantastically detailed nose with matchstick, flint, white flowers, lime, pineapple, traces of toasty oak, talcum powder, and electrician's tape. Mouth-coating palate with citrus acids and great zest throughout. Fine minerals. Fresh and pure.

Softest nose amongst the '09 to '06, egg whites, sulphur, and some white florals in addition to big drawn butter. Palate follows through huge and hedonistic. Young and rich with minerals, slate, and salinity all showing.

Toasty nose of honeyed cereal grains. Very ripe with tart tropical fruits. Palate drinks thinner than the '09 to '06, perhaps more advanced than this wine should be right now. Again, the problem with huge spanning verticals is that minor flaws are emphasized over every wine being great, which they are.

An honest cork: wet cardboard and musty cellar. Still big rich fruit in the background if you wanted to fight for it, but quite obviously damaged. Had yet to encounter a corked white as opposed to premature oxidation.

Intense and highly tropical nose with white flowers and honeydew melon. Quite perfumey. Some good matchstick sulphur present as well. Not oxidized but interesting iron and copper notes hanging around. Big and rich on the palate with ripe mango and stone fruit. Cereal grains and crisp wheat. Some of the '03 heat detectable although this wine showed pretty great. Finish was a little stunted if anything.

Absolutely beautiful. Intense and fresh nose of stone fruit, wet slate, hardened dark honey, and ripe citrus fruits. Supremely clean, drinks much younger than the '03. Gorgeous palate delivering aforementioned fruits in addition to rich chardonnay butter without being too fat. Petrichor. Decidedly the wine of the flight from '05 to '02. Terrific.

Only now beginning to darken in the glass relative to the '09 - '06 flight. Light gold. Some matchstick and subtle smoke. Ripe mango and pineapple on the palate in addition to honeyed cereal grains. Somewhat sharp. Acid is high. Missing that supreme freshness.

Intense and complex bouquet straddling fresh cut grass and freshly sliced tropical fruits. A bit of everything going on: matchstick sulphur, wet stones, and soldering smoke. Evening notes really emphasize the minerals in this glass. Still an absolutely mouth-coating wine. Decidedly the wine of the flight from '01 to '98.

Big and rich nose, honeysuckle, ripe juicy pineapple, creamed / whipped honey. Boulders / big wet stoniness. Rich and mouth-coating. Notes from dinner short on this one.

Intriguing and complex nose including toasted cereal grains, white flowers, pine needle, and flower bulbs. Slightly botrytized, residual sugar, yellow gold. Still delicious if not as fresh as '99 and '00.

Great nose of matchstick, white flowers, and fat juicy red apple. Gunpowder notes begin to yield to richer honeysuckle and toasty honey and bread. Pleasant minerality present throughout. Showing some age but no RS compared to the '95 and '94. Close call to the '96 but ultimately the wine of the '97 - '94 flight. Great drinking right now.

Big and beautiful nose balancing fresh cut flowers and sulphur notes. Big toasty cereal grains with honey. Reads young on the palate, still extremely fresh with mouth-coating acidity. Soft peach, pineapple, and mango through the finish. Very close call to the '97 enjoyed beforehand, which ultimately proved a little fresher and finer. Great drinking right now.

Not 100% botrytized but pretty close. Dark yellow gold in the glass and a very sweet nose that read like d'Yquem. Overly sweet and ripe palate. Apricot. Drinkable, but more like a dessert wine and obviously not what this is supposed to be at this stage.

Both nose and palate have thinned out. Less oxidation and botrytis than the '95 served beforehand. Fruit sort of fading into nutty and wood-driven notes. Curious chemical notes. Woody / varnish in the finish. Probably a fine wine on its own, again the problem with huge verticals is that some bottles get taken for granted or overlooked.

Yellow gold in the glass. Still exceptionally fresh off the bat but with well developed and mature tropical fruit: pineapple, white flowers, lilies, and honeysuckle. A present petrol / ethanol note present as well. Absolutely mouth-coating through to the finish with minerality throughout. Terrific drinking right now.

Yellow gold. Ripe and fully mature nose. Partially botrytized and very thin on the palate compared to the other wines in the final flight spanning '93 - '89. Not obviously flawed, just underwhelming given the company.

Familiar Coche nose of flint, matchstick, and some smoke on top of fresh white flowers and honeysuckle. Develops into hardened honey, butterscotch, vanilla, gingerbread, and cinnamon. Palate is more advanced the the beautiful nose suggests. Still very floral and elegant but fully mature right now.

White florals yielding to creamy / whipped honey. Totally drinkable and enjoyable but this bottle was quite far advanced. Echinacea with honey and something quite vegetal in the background. Still good but this bottle was tired compared to the others in the final flight.

Wafting nose of sulphur, matchstick, soldering smoke, and egg whites on top of stone fruit, slate, and petrichor. White floral freshness remains. Fresh sliced mango, creamy honey, and toasty cereal grains on the palate with mouth-coating texture and acidity. Developed and advanced but still has incredible energy throughout. Intricate notes of milky coffee and vanilla appear later on. As strong a showing as anyone could have hoped for out of this bottle. Wine of the flight and wine of the event spanning 2009 to 1989. Magic...