Mag. 08 base early 2012 disgorgement. Pale to mid straw. Nicely rich nose but a freshness too. Some passion fruit exuberance on the palate at the expense of the trademark ginger. Dosage evident (7g/l). Lacking some line, bite and depth for classic Reflets, but in today’s guise, a crowd pleaser that doesn’t scare the horses. ****

Mid straw. Rich nose. Botrytis? Gosh, almost a young Sauternes nose. Cleaner and fresher on the palate though. A sense of something herbal. Really chewy, visceral quality that evokes fine, chalky tannin. Slightly crystalline, honeyed texture too. Long and really quite full with 1er Cru plus plus density. Some leginess in the glass too. Quite heady. ****

Mid to full straw. Quite fat in the glass. Toasted hazelnut and beurre noisette nose. Proper. Herbal. Long. Starts to feel a little disjointed though. All the constituent parts perhaps not fully melded, or unmelding. Some gras. Lacks a bit of focus. In good shape,for a 96 though, and fun. ****

Slightly,cloudy mid ruby to full garnet. Quite a lot of fine sediment in this pour. Cherry fruit, some spice, but more pronounced meaty notes that grow in the glass. A Vosne that wants to be Nuits. Lots of latent power and an earthy meaty loveliness. ****

Quite a bright deep garnet. Spice, heather, lavender and a hint of bacon frazzles. Cherry fruit.Lots of breadth. Chewy frame supported by tannin. Currently not much length but opens nicely. Producer’s gloss coupled with vineyard sits across the nose to give a Nuits that wants to be Vosne. ***(*’

Classic 76 CVNE nose when opened, but subdues for a while and takes ten minutes to open in the glass. Bright red fruit, fireside spice, church pew. With air becomes more savoury nd shows some lapsang smoke. I may have kept this a little cool as it hasn’t fully opened. Still gorgeous with that classic silky mature Rioja palate, but merely a very good bottle of 76VR rather than a great one. ****1/2

Mid ruby. More density. Warm leather. Again, breadth rather than depth, but nicely done. Some length on the finish. ****

Deep, dense ruby. A curiously lactic, salted caramel nose initially, a whiff of Eloise’s too. This lifts largely to reveal a dense blackcurrant leaf cab-franc herbal ness. Opens up very nicely without losing its classical line. Could have done with another hour to evolve. Power in an elegant classical frame. ****

Beautiful mid ruby. A touch of swimming pool on the nose, giving way to a vegetal, herbal cab franc character. Cab franc on the palate too. Dense, somewhat occluded, herbal. Very green. Not sure this is as it should be, even with 85 freshness considered. ***

Initially there’s good blackcurrant and blackcurrant leaf fruit. Nicely savoury with good acidity. Fully mature. Some cigar in with the blackcurrant leaf. A little more beefy savoury with air. Resolved and very drinkable. Lovely energy. We must be well in to the realm of bottle variation here, but this is a good one. ****

A good bottle. Some spice, creamy and rounded. Dosage a little to the fore. Just a brief sniff and sip before heading to the train, but ****