Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

This elegant, stylish, deep ruby/purple-colored effort reveals notes of smoke, graphite, and red as well as black fruits in its perfumed, nicely evolved bouquet. (RP)

(06/2004)

Wine Spectator

This is quite alive, with a very fresh, almost brisk edge to the mix of red currant, damson plum and raspberry fruit. Lovely tobacco, bay leaf and iron notes drive the finish, stretching this out. Shows a flash of peppery game at the very end. (JM, Web-2018)

Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar

Saturated medium ruby. Highly aromatic nose of dark berries, leather, tar, tobacco and violet. Suave and fine-grained, with lovely concentration and pliant texture. The violet and tobacco notes carry through in the mouth. In a distinctly gentler style than the 2002, finishing with smooth, fine tannins and subtle persistence. (ST)

(04/2004)

Jancis Robinson

Dark crimson. Still crimson rim. Meaty and sumptuous with much more vibrancy than the 2000. Really mellifluous but with the concentration that is lacking in 20th-century vintages. Energetic and sinewy. Fresh but still vital. Round and polished. Very, very Graves with its combination of lusciousness and freshness. Focus and direction. Just a hint of iron filings on the end. Long. 18/20 points (JR)

(03/2015)