BV has just reliesed its top wine, and despite some grousing from the Wine Spectator’s Jim Laube, this is the best Georges since the mid-1990s.

The wine is lovely and perfumed with classic blackberry aromas. On the palate, it’s tight and substantial – as a Georges should be when young. But it’s excellently balanced with beautiful fruit. A classic Georges. Hold it for at least a couple of years as I think it has enough tannins and acidity to see it age for up to 25.

The 2003 was aged for 20 months in 60 percent French barrels and the remainder in American wood with 52 percent of the whole being new.