2008 - Clos Saint-Denis Grand Cru, Lucien Le Moine

Barrel #1: Good medium red. Knockout nose combines raspberry, rose petal, crushed stone, game, smoke and flint; an essence of this grand cru. Wonderfully silky on entry, then moderately sweet and very fine-grained, with considerable complexity to the flavors of briary berries, pepper, smoke and earth. Barrel #2: Bright, deep red. Very ripe, more liqueur-like aromas of raspberry and spices; more fruits and less earth here. Then hugely concentrated and sweet; at once more tactile and less noble than the last sample but with more obvious red fruit flavors and plenty of underlying stone. Similarly peppery on the long aftertaste. This is aging in a barrel that received a longer toasting.