($370-$750) Medium ruby-red. Inviting aromas of plum, warm stones, red licorice and menthol. Suave, gentle and elegantly styled; distinctly sweeter and lusher today than the La Mission, with even more mid-palate depth. Showing more red fruits today as well, with pungent minerality giving the wine lift and juiciness. Finishes with suave but substantial building tannins. Last year this wine was showing its spine while La Mission was more opulent; in bottle it's the other way around.

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Relatively pale. Looks quite evolved. Much riper nose than most. Sweet start - very winning and concentrated. Plump ripe fruit with some minerality. A very nice complex cocktail that should provide good drinking over quite a long period. Meaning that you could start drinking it quite soon but needn't worry that it won't last. Extremely persistent.

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The 2006 Haut-Brion performed even better from bottle than it did from barrel. Sixty-four percent of the production went into this wine, and while it displays the vintage's powerful tannins and structure, it possesses superb concentration, and the minerality/scorched earth notes of a great Haut-Brion. Medium to full-bodied, with perhaps not quite the fleshiness of the 2005 or 2000, it is built more along the lines of the 1998 and 1996. It is a brilliant effort displaying sensational purity, texture, and length that should be exceptionally long-lived.

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Offers subtle and complex aromas, with violet, cedar and blackberry. Full-bodied, with ultrafine tannins and a very long finish. Tight and curled up in a ball.

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Not sure what to say: it is so unbeliebavbly tannic that tannins completely overwhelm the palate. Too young to taste, need to wait at least 15 years to see what will happen to it.