I didn't like this as much as others at the table - I thought this was very good, but much more oxidative than I prefer. Caramel, butterscotch, and nutty flavours accenting baked apple and lightly toasty/bready notes on the palate - there's still freshness to the fruit and it freshens up further with air, but I find the oxidative notes here overwhelming. An impressive wine with lots of power and length, but just not my style.

This seemed a touch tired - I wondered about premature oxidation when seeing the colour, but it still tastes fairly fresh with pear, citrus, and riper yellow fruited flavours, and a faint toasted hazelnut-like character. There's a faint honeyed/butterscotchy note at the back end that has me wondering about botrytis, but it's a minor element and doesn't detract from the other flavours here. Good acidity beneath, though this doesn't show quite the clarity and focus that I typically expect from Roulot.

This seemed a bit odd at first - perhaps the juxtaposition of a really reductive wine after the very oxidative Selosse and slightly browned/butterscotchy Roulot. But it came across with a lot of sulfury reduction that took a little air to clear, but was worth the wait. Absolutely brilliant once the reduction clears, with amazing depth to the fresh citrus and white fruited flavours, vivid mineral depth and yeasty accents, and the Krug oxidative notes rather subdued and playing a background role to the bright fruit. There's remarkable acidity - much more than I would have expected for the vintage - and the overall balance and length are really impressive. Loved this.

Birthyear Krug - woo hoo. This was rocking. Lots of those mature oxidative nutty and mushroomy notes here, but the fruit beneath still feels really vibrant and energetic, and there's really bright acidity beneath that gives it good lift to match the power and richness here. Loved this.

Well this is a fireworks display. Still remarkably youthful and barely showing any of its 30 years of age - the fruit here still seems very primary and youthful, augmented nicely by the oak, and showing more savoury earthy and smoky notes on the back end. There's striking power and intensity on the palate here, but it also feels remarkably polished and graceful for such a big, intense wine - there's really bright acidity keeping it very fresh, and a remarkably long finish.

My first experience with the Hommage bottling, and this absolutely lives up to the hype. Packed with a core of red and dark fruited flavours, framed by savoury meatiness, (clean) earth, and other savoury, umami-like notes without any of the dirty funkiness I've sometimes found in older Beaucastel. It still feels very youthful with a spine of grainy tannin and bright acids, and the density and structure here suggest it has a lot of time ahead. But it's damn delicious now, and a real joy to sit and have with dinner.

Jawdropping. There's amazing intensity and depth to the aromatics here - even from the bottle neck (before pouring) it smelled spectacular, and it's hard to catalogue the array of dark fruit, spice, earth, and higher toned herbal/eucalyptus flavours here. There's so much complexity on the nose, and all the flavours come together as a seamless whole on the palate, which feels powerful without ever being overly weighty or alcoholic. It's still remarkably fresh and vibrant, and probably my favorite of the night amidst a lot of tough competition.

How on earth does a 40 year old Cabernet have this kind of intensity, brightness, and power? Just a spectacular wine with so much depth and shockingly youthful intensity - layers upon layers of black fruit, oak, earth, cedar wood, and dill/other herbal notes all coming together seamlessly on the palate, and still some brooding tannin on the back end. Just an amazing, age-defying wine.

Corked. Oof.

Apparently this was Jacky Truchot's last vintage, and this is a hell of a way to sign off. Stunning, beguiling aromatics with an array of bright red fruits, floral elements, and light earthiness coming together into an amazing, perfumed scent, and a palate presence that's remarkably gentle and delicate in terms of its weight, though never lacking intensity. Brilliant wine, and drinking superbly right now - I had no regrets about opening my only bottle at this point.

Yaaassss. I'm not always the biggest Clape fan (compared to others in Cornas/the Northern Rhône), but his '95 Cornas is one of my favorite vintages there and this was just smoking. Classic Cornas flavours and rusticity here - lots of savoury meatiness and gamey notes, along with brine, olives, and gentler red fruited flavours, and still quite a bit of tannin lingering on the back end. This still feels rather youthful and seems like it has a while to go before maturity, but it's already a fantastic and absolutely compelling bottle of Cornas.