2013 Château Mouton Rothschild

NHB. Dark shaded crimson. Opulent and showy on the nose. (This was the vintage when even the PR staff had to get out into the vineyards and pick because rot was so rampant!) Sweet and a tad oaky. Not very Bordeaux at all. Not subtle. But some may love it. (JR)

Grilled oak on the nose, this has firm almost bulky Pauillac tannins, has definitely delivered appellation signature. Estate signature also, in that dash of glamour, gingerbread, cocoa bean and autumnal blackberruy fruits. Soft landing on the finish, on the edge of tertiary. Harvest September 30 to October 9.

Tasted blind. Inky garnet. Very toasty on the nose, very oaky. There's some sweet fruit but on the finish the oak overwhelms. Seems hard and overoaked at the moment. Since this generally elicited positive responses from several other tasters, I went back to it later: the fruit seemed more evident and the oak not as intrusive. The texture was also smoother than my first impression, which was possibly influenced by a tannin build up: not so bad but not great. I originally scored it quite a bit lower. (JH)