Drank over a long Easter Sunday afternoon alongside the 1993. both of which I have had in my cellar since release. Near-perfect old cork (alors!...when did that last happen). Bright, light and totally transparent lands’ blood colour. Nose is ethereal light spirited incense that immediately feeds through to your central cortex with a BLAM!… rather like the effect of menthol. It is very light and chiffonesquue but very ‘chase the dragon’. Very ‘clean’…no classic Musar funk whatsoever, which is a bit of a pity in some ways but really marks it out for its feminine elegance. Palate shows immediate sweetness of incense, black liquorice root, very light mouthfeel at first but then a liqueur dry sweetness emerges, lots of high piano notes and with an almost drug-inducing intoxicating mounting resonance and reverberance inside the head on a ridiculously long, ethereal finish. There is a Burgundian ‘power without weight’ thing going on here. WOW! 96+

Drank over a long Easter Sunday afternoon alongside the 1995. both of which I have had in my cellar since release.Totally saturated and crumbly cork but patiently extracted it in one piece! Deeper, more clouded and semi-transparent mulberry colour than the preceding 1995. Heavily sedimented. Nose immediately has a more Musar-typical funk but only moderately so. Again, high piano notes dominate the nose on opening. Mulberry but with an acidic freshness. This is very much alive and needs time from opening to unfold. Palate is very crisply fresh acidity and much more fruit-forward than the 1995… bramble and blackberry fruit that reminds me of 1990s Ridge Monte Bello. Wow… this is good. Smokiness and lots of black Asian spices. It immediately resonates in a powerful, complex way ‘inside the head’ even before you swallow. Wow.. this is still so young and fresh! It is definitely tugging me down Alice’s rabbit hole into reveries. This is a more sinewed, muscular and masculine wine than the 1995. For some reason, I am remembering a Paul McCartney song ‘Ebony and Ivory’ that seems to sum up the difference and similarity between these two wines. This is gorgeous. 96.