2014 - Mouton Rothschild, Pauillac

The grilled character on the opening beats is more campfire than gunsmoke, just a little warmer and more evident than with the Lafite, meaning both estates are very much staying true to their character. Here you get waves of peony and rose petals, with raspberry and damson fruits, feels expansive and complex, punctuated by orange peel, pomegranate, leather, espresso, black tea, sweet smoked caramel, with plenty of lift and caressting tannins. Delicious, and growing into a spectacular wine as it ages. 100% new oak, Philippe Dhalluin director.

The 2014 Mouton-Rothschild is one of the strongest wines from the First Growth in that decade when Philippe Dhalluin nudged quality higher. It has a showstopping bouquet with black fruit laced with freshly rolled tobacco and a touch of forest floor. Wonderful delineation and focus, hints of wild mint developing in the glass. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannins, one of the most elegant Mouton-Rothschild wines of the era, and lovely poise with a dash of black pepper toward the finish that fans out gloriously. Incontrovertibly, it is one of the finest 2014s in Bordeaux. Tasted at Bordeaux Index's 10-Year-On tasting and blind at the Southwold tasting.

The 2014 Mouton Rothschild is deep garnet-brick in color. Notes of creme de cassis, cigar box, and forest floor open out to nuances of crushed rocks, new leather, and truffles. The medium-bodied palate delivers muscular black fruits and a firm frame of grainy tannins with seamless freshness, finishing long and layered.

The 2014 Mouton-Rothschild was closed at first when I tasted the wine in bottle with winemaker Philippe Dhalluin. But as it transpires, this First Growth is just toying with you. Initially quite understated, it responds to aeration like a young child peeking from around a corner and then running out, waving its hands. It suddenly hits you with gorgeous black cherries, bilberry, cedar and wilted rose petal. The palate is medium-bodied with a silky smooth entry. This is utterly seductive: a wine without a hair out of place. It is not as powerful or as complex as the 2015 Mouton-Rothschild, yet the precision and focus here is beguiling. It will require five to seven years to absorb the 100% new oak, then it will be an utterly delicious and to use a term employed at en primeur, "cerebral" First Growth that is destined to give two or three decades of pleasure.

Tasted blind. Deep garnet. Leafy fresh black fruit, smells really youthful. Lots of lead pencil. Refined, light-bodied, extremely elegant. (JH)