Château Gazin 1999

An excellent sweet nose of lavish toasty oak intertwined with plums, black cherries, and currants dominates the olfactory senses. In the mouth, this wine is elegant, lush, flavorful, and savory, with medium body and no hard edges. Drink it over the next 10-12 years.

Pretty inconsequential nose. Sweet start and then a bit dry and dusty and austere with rustic tannins. Dull. Fast fade. (JR)

Firm, bright, earthy, leafy and all about the bright red fruits, the medium-bodied wine is better on the nose than on the lean, almost Medocian palate.

Deep ruby-purple with a crimson shimmer. Herbal bouquet: fruit tea, red currant, dark wood, coffee. Juicy, soft palate, with plenty of melt-in-the-mouth richness in the jammy, fine-grained extract; a charming, intense, almost smoky aromatic profile on a blackberry-like finish. The tannins are not quite fully ripe.

00: Herbal bouquet, fruit tea, red currant, dark wood, coffee. Juicy, soft palate, lots of mellowness in the jammy, fine-sandy extract; graceful, intense, almost smoky aromas on a blackberry finish; the tannins are not fully ripe. 06: A Burgundian, flattering pleasure with no regrets. 08: Drunk at a lunch with Nicolas de Baillencourt at Château Gazin. He decanted it a good four hours. And that was a good thing. The wine is enormous fun and still has some reserves, enough to deliver at least another 5 years of great enjoyment for little money. 10: Quite evolved, bright ruby-garnet. Floral, almost vegetal bouquet, sorrel-leaf notes. On the palate, distinctive, slightly furry, noticeable acidity, with quite a lot of sandy tannins. It will remain increasingly hard and somehow unfinished. Drinks like an under-aged steak.

Deep dark red color. Good intensity. Bright. Medium-intensity nose. Very, very fruity. Ripe. With aeration, smoky. Refined. Fruity. A hint of coffee. The palate opens smooth and caressing, developing into a fruity, generous, silky wine with a fine mouthfeel. A slow, very tasty tannic evolution on tannins that are sophisticated in texture and aromatic. Normal length. A rather moreish wine that can already be tasted and kept for 2 to 3 years before opening. A little more structure on the finish would make it even more noble.