La Fugue de Nénin 2023

Smells wildly aromatic, deep and darkly scented with purple fruit and dark berries. Juicy and bright, really lively and energetic, clean and pure. Not dense but very approachable with lashings of mint and liquorice spice on the finish. Pristine and finessed, dark and slightly tense on the finish. Easy and lots to like. So lifted and really long. Quite an opulent taste to this - dark, spiced berries the whole way through but lifted by acidity.

93% Merlot, 7% Cabernet Franc. Cask sample. Juicy and fresh but lighter in weight and frame. Fairly simple. Ready to go early. (JL)

Cocoa, wet earth, licorice and red fruits are easy to find in the nose, and on the medium-bodied, fresh, bright, and fruity palate The wine will deliver its cherry filled pleasure on release, and for close to a decade after that. Drink from 2027-2035.

A slightly subdued Fugue de Nenin, with plenty of fresh raspberry and fig fruits, juicy acidity, balanced, soft through the finish. For early to medium drinking, enjoyable although the real depths of flavour are found in the main estate wine in this vintage. Harvest September 13 to 28.

Score: 90–92. A dense, concentrated second wine revealing a nose of black fruits with menthol notes and cassis leaf, and a voluptuous, generous palate—structured yet smooth—with a refreshing salinity.

Herb-spiced, red-fruited, blond tobacco; delicate palate, slender, moderate, fine tannins, slightly creamy, medium-length red-fruited finish.

Youthfully compact, this red offers a juicy cassis and plum core wrapped in black licorice and sweet tobacco before turning to show off a gloss of roasted vanilla on the sleek and fresh finish. Merlot and Cabernet Franc. Drink now through 2033.