2008 Le Desir

(14.3% alcohol): Bright ruby-red. More brooding on the nose than La Muse, showing aromas of dark plum, black cherry, licorice and spices, along with some chocolatey oak. Even suaver than La Muse, benefiting from lovely violet lift from the Cabernet Franc component but missing the herbal pungency of the Muse. Plenty of tannic support here but this is a creamier and more harmonious wine even if it's still young. Tannins are fine-grained and broad, reaching the front teeth and incisors but nicely buffered by the wine's fruit and minerality. Finishes with terrific rising length and verve.

(61% cabernet franc, 31% merlot, and 4% each cabernet sauvignon and malbec): Good red-ruby. Musky aromas of blueberry, licorice and dusty spices. Dense and sappy, with terrific grip and saline intensity to the dark berry, dark chocolate, clove and mace flavors. Wonderfully energetic Saint-Emilion style of wine, with exhilarating inner-mouth spice character. Tannins are serious but suave and perfectly carried by the wine's density of texture and lingering fruit. A beauty.

The fruit for this blend of 61% Cabernet Franc, 31% Merlot and the rest Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec came from Chalk Hill (58%) and Alexander Valley (42%). Pierre Seillan believes the Chalk Hill fruit provides a truffle-like character and the Alexander Valley gives minerality, structure, tannin and intensity. The 2008 will be fascinating to taste next to the 2007 over the next 30+ years. Sweet mulberry, blueberry and blackberry fruit intermixed with notions of black truffles, damp earth and forest floor emerge from this beauty of stunning intensity, purity and texture. The alcohol is 14.4% and the relatively elevated pH is 3.76.