Clos de Tart, Mommessin 2003

This is enormously ripe and explodes from the glass with warm wood-framed aromas of coffee, tobacco, plum, prune, smoked meat and dried herbs that introduce massively constituted though not incredibly structured flavors of serious size, weight and depth that are blessed with buckets of extract that completely buffer the firm and ripe tannic backbone. This is not my style but it's not imbalanced or unduly warm and it's a wine that will live for 50 years, perhaps longer. Like the '05, it seems clear that my early in-bottle review was too optimistic in terms of the initial drinking window and as such, I have extended it.

Aromas of tar and smoke, with very pure, concentrated blackberry and spice notes underneath, mark this exotic, seductive red. Silky and complex, it caresses the palate. It needs a little time to absorb the oak, but it's long and has great potential. Best from 2009 through 2030.