2017 Clos d'Agon Tinto

Full bottle 1,513 g. 48% Roussanne, 33% Viognier, 19% Marsanne, planted in 1991. 70% stainless steel, 30% French oak barrels (25% new barrels), seven months' ageing with regular lees stirring. 8,000 bottles produced. NHB! The oak is prow-forward on this wine, leading the charge, nose and palate. But under that, on the nose, beautiful honeysuckle and iris florals and ripe peach-into-mango fruit. Still awkward with youth on the palate; it hasn't yet all come together. It's as if the oak is compartmentalising each element – acidity, fruit, texture, breadth, depth – at the moment. But those elements are strikingly complex: salty, almost fino-like, the texture of marble, geometrically carved flavours of citrus and honeyed blossom. It has a long life ahead of it, but I'd put this away for at another year or two. (TC)

An attractively fruit-focused red that has very ripe and pure plum aromas and flavors with a thread of dark chocolate. Terrific balance and purity throughout. Drink or hold.