($200) Pale orange-bronze color. Pinot-like aromas of blood orange, game, smoke and earth, along with hints of orange marmalade and peach; the nose of this wine always reminds me of Nuits-Saint-Georges or Vosne-Romanee. Very intensely flavored, ripe and tactile, but without an ounce of excess weight. Compelling flavors of wild red fruits, spices and earth; very Cote de Nuits. Wonderful framing acidity. Finishes with superb spicy persistence.

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Definitely more orange than the 1996 – pale rose red with a hint of tomato. Extremely powerful, spicy nose –almost a hint of curry spice. Mushroom spectrum of mature Pinot flavours which stood up beautifully to Heston Blumenthal’s surprisingly subtle, though creamily meaty, dish snail porridge. Big, beefy, meaty, and then some florality. Wonderful development on the nose. Considerable selection of healthy grapes was needed to make this apparently.

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This wine was recommended, but no tasting note was given.

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Superbly euphoric nose, as languorous and silky as a guitar solo by Carlos Santana. As usual, Richard Geoffroy—like his predecessor—has succeeded in creating a wine that has seductive suppleness, complexity, and concentration in one and the same wine. In that sense, Dom Perignon has a greatness that no other wines can really match, excepting La Tache in Burgundy. Besides wonderful structure there are layers of red and exotic fruit, with blood orange as the guiding star. All these fruits are sensitively braided together with all the classically toasted fireworks. I noticed with interest—when this wine was served blind—that it wasn't at all popular with the novices: they couldn't see past the stables and outhouse in the nose. How differently people can perceive things!

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Fascinating. Mature notes of mushroom, corrupt cherry and forest undergrowth evoke an aged red Burgundy. Firm and medium-bodied, yet softening and with little effervescence, it fades by the finish, but the bouquet alone is worth the price of admission. Drink now.

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I thought this wine was borderline "over the hill". It was just a tad too astringent and hardly any fruit left. Perhaps that is the style of Dom Rose though - if so, the La Gran Dame is so much better!