2004 Château Quinault l'Enclos

An elegant, pretty Quinault, the 2004 displays a dense ruby/purple color along with a big, rich nose of licorice, black raspberries, cherries, and spice. This blend of 71% Merlot, 17% Cabernet Franc, and the rest Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec possesses an excellent texture, beautiful elegance and complexity, and no hard edges. A seamlessly made, supple-textured, evolved, forward effort, it can be drunk now or cellared for 12-15 years. This is a very strong effort in a challenging vintage.

Red-ruby. Black cherry, mocha, iron, licorice and exotic spices on the nose. Juicy and bright, with a slight peppery quality lifting the middle palate. Not especially fleshy or sweet but spicy and aromatic. Finishes with dusty tannins and good verve. As always, this conveys a strong impression of soil character, although from the nose alone I'd be more likely to guess Pomerol than Saint-Emilion.

(tasted from tank; to be bottled in June) Red-ruby. Maraschino cherry, raspberry, mocha, iron and smoky oak aromas. Suave and sweet; less intense than the 2005 but ripe and juicy, with a subtly persistent finish of spices, cherry and boysenberry. This is showing a lot of personality today despite the fact that it's on its finings.