My first time with the 2008 and didn't pay it enough attention as we were quite a big crowd getting to know each other. Fresh, vibrant and not too different to the 2005 on first impressions.....until I paired it with Chinese 'Thousand Year' Egg...then it took off to a higher plane. This has greatness hidden away somewhere and I suspect will become an outstanding food Champagne. Must revisit....

From magnum. Light silver-gold colour. No detailed notes but very fresh and approachable. Aromatic lemony high piano notes on the nose and bracingly fresh on the palate. Moderate length. Would be perfect with fresh oysters.

Decanted for 2+ hours. Quite dusky and transparent in colour. Quiet nose. Lovely perfumed palate... soft. Light. Merlot-driven. To plagarise Jeff Leve "a wine to like rather than to love".

Decanted for 2+ hours. Near transparent ruby in colour. Lovely perfumed nose. Palate is more robust than the Ch. Canon. Real depth of red fruit. Good length. Solid but not sure I would see it likely to improve much from here.

Decanted for 2+ hours. Dark ruby but transparent colour. Nose is lovely red rose perfume. Palate is beautiful fresh acidity, redcurrant fruit. Very elegant. Powerful but lightly elegant resonance and reverberance. Very long. Lovely! A big step up from the two St. Emilions drank alongside it. 92+

Slightly dusky ruby, bricking at the edge but translucent ruby core. Nose is reticent under the cooking smells from the open kitchen...spices and red berry fruit. Palate is deep and alluring, still young, belly filling richness of red fruit, powerful. Heady. Good length. Needs more time to develop despite the 3 hour decant.

Very mild bricking on the meniscus...translucent. ruby colour. Nose is flowery perfumed red roses. Palate is wow... fresh acidity, quite high, and powerful tannic structure. Immediately heady and resonant with super length. A step up from the 1989....but needs 5 more years to fully unfurl. 92+

Bright and still fresh-jewelled ruby gemstone in colour. Nose is fresh black plums. Palate is deep, slightly plummy but still fresh fruit. Lots of depth. Super reverberance, depth and length on the finale. I think the best is still to come but other CTers seem to think otherwise.

My contribution...a magnum double decanted for 8 hours. Very bright, jewelled ruby gemstone near-transparent in colour. Nose is BLAM!.. so clean, fresh and definitive Pauillac... but the freshness is the standout element...cedar but little tertiary. Palate is wow... deep but powdered red and black small berry fruit, almost confit, hints of tobacco leaf, cedar shingles, still so fresh and lifted. Slowly mounting resonancece and reverberance from deep in the bottom of the cortex. Stupendous but just short of silence-creating. Lots of people's WOTN. 94+

Strong legs. Translucent black-red. Nose is lovely black berry fruit....hints of sun warmed cedar shingles. Very bright. Palate is bright, very well-defined, huge depth of bright black/red fruit. Good length but will only get better with 5-7 years' more bottle age. 92+ but would have benefited from a long decant, I think compared to when I drank it previously.

Deeper and more brooding colour than the 1990. Translucent at the edges. Nose is more strongly cedar and tobacco than 1990. Palate is beautifully silky and seductive... heady and reverberant even in the mouth before you swallow. Wonderful expression of cassis. This is drinking at its apogee but has 10 more years at this level. Much improved from when I last drank it 6 years ago. 94 tonight.

Deeply opaque black-red. Nose is ooh!...the most earthy wine tonight....Cuban tobacco leaf....dark black plum fruit. Palate is moderate acidity, warm, rich and very rounded. Caress-able.....if that is a word. Gosh... this is in a fantastic place right now. Slightly rustic compared to others but in the way a mother’s cooking inspired a Michelin chef. Absolutely 'at point' ... hard to fault and a big step up from when I drank a magnum last month with fewer wines to compare. 94 and my WOTN among the reds. But doubt it will improve from here.

Almost-opaque fresh ruby/purple. Nose is absolute unmistakable St Julien... sun warmed cedar woods, warm damp earth, hints of white mushrooms, quartz minerals...complex. Palate is medium but fresh acidity, deep compote blackberry, slightly smoky, a little bit monotone and rustic. Good length and resonance. Very good but lacking a bit in sophistication, especially on the palate. 91-92.

From several 375ml. Deep copper-gold. Nose is OMFG...wall paper paste, vanilla pod, lemon grass.... so complex and rich. Palate is liquid gold, copper-ish in the mouth, vanilla pod, the sweetest subtlest honeysuckle, gosh... so young, fresh and multi-tiered... stupidly complex. Wondrously complex and mesmeric on the finale.... so young yet so complete. It sent me into reveries..... WOTN by a wide margin. 96+