Clos Vieux Taillefer, Pomerol, Bordeaux, France, 2022

Opulent, rich and perfumed nose - seriously scented. Juicy and more straight than I was expecting on the palate, there's freshness with fine, well-integrated and softly fleshy tannins. You can see they haven't tried to push this too much, though it still has power and heft; blueberry, damson and blackcurrant flavours, not weighty or plush at all, juicy and bright still with a vein of tobacco, chocolate, liquorice and stone. Nicely detailed with lots of appealing elements. Harvest 15 - 16 September. Ageing 19 months; 40% new barrel, 60% one wine. Derenoncourt consultants.

A somewhat stalky nose with dried herbs and savoury notes. Juicy on the palate, a nice zing of strawberry fruit but there's still a lot of stalky, dried wood notes adding to the flavour which is a bit distracting. It's calm and nicely balanced in terms of tannins and acidity with a gentle overall expression. The oak is just a bit incongruous right now.