Barrel Sample. This wine shows a dense structure marked with concentrated tannins and black plum fruits. The wine is rich and full on the palate, with just the right amount of fresh acidity to give it a lift.

The 2014 La Tour Carnet was a wine that I tasted last year from bottle, so why not give it another whirl to remind readers of its quality. There is a lot going on aromatically with plenty of boisterous black cherry and raspberry fruit, maintaining that floral element that I discerned last year. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannin, perhaps the oak on this bottle a little more conspicuous than before, but that will be subsumed with two or three years in bottle.

Solid, delivering a core of lightly steeped red and black currant fruit liberally laced with savory and tobacco leaf notes. This has a frankly toasty frame on the finish, but the fruit pushes through. Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot. Drink now through 2020. 40,000 cases made.