| Score: |
92 VM.
"Opaque ruby. Expressive aromas of ripe dark fruit, spicecake and candied flowers are sharpened by a smoky mineral element. Palate-caressing black/blue fruit and violet flavors become fleshier and spicier with air, picking up a hint of salty olive with air. Suave, seamless and appealingly sweet, finishing with solid thrust and slow-building tannins that are absorbed by the wine's energetic fruit. Agnes Levet told me that its not unfair to view 2015 as a cross of the power and structure of 2010 allied to the fruit intensity of 2009, with the freshness of 2012 and 2014 added into the mix. So a pretty unique combination of qualities and "not like any vintage" that she and her father have ever witnessed. Longtime fans of this domaine should be all over the 2015s, which Agnes says will need her parents' recommended fifteen years of patience, "at least", before they hit their stride. The wild character that has long defined the house style here is defintely still present but, as has been the case over the last few years, I detect more polish to Agnes' wines than those of her parents, especially in the case of the tannins, which in the past have often been forbidding at the very least if not simply fear-inspiring." Josh Raynolds, Vinous.com, Feb 2018 |