2015 Le Dome

The 2015 Le Dôme has a fresh and generous bouquet with a mixture of red and black fruit, black truffle and light cedar aromas that blossom in the glass. The palate is medium-bodied and vibrant, with edgy tannins. It's a little Médoc-like toward the finish, which is more backward and primal than expected. Give this another couple of years. Tasted blind at the 2015 Bordeaux Ten-Year-On tasting at Farr Vintners.

A powerful and impressive vintage in St Emilion, and Le Dôme is on brand - luscious, intense, high spice, charcoal, fennel, liquorice, a slab of bitter black chocolate alongside cassis and damson fruit. Perhaps less evident floral character from the Cabernet Franc than some vintages, but with plenty of juice running through the mid palate, tempering the high impact of the grilled oak, and there is a joyfulness to this that is impossible to ignore. Neil Whyte winemaker, Jonathan Maltus owner. 80% new oak for ageing, malolactic in new oak.

The 2015 Le Dôme offers smudged brambly red fruit mixed with cedar and leather, a little more forward than I would have expected. The palate is medium-bodied with grippy tannin, plenty of black cherry and white pepper notes with a slightly animally, yet persistent finish. This does improve in the glass so give it ample aeration. Tasted blind at the Southwold 2015 Bordeaux tasting.