The 2016 Chateau la Pirouette, a blend of 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 45% Merlot and 5% Petit Verdot, offers Bing cherry and wild strawberry on the nose, almost Saint-Julien-like in style. The palate is medium-bodied with firm, quite dry tannin, but there is plenty of black fruit here laced with cedar and undergrowth, a touch of mushroom on the finish. I appreciate the stylishness, the understated manner of this Bordeaux rouge, and it should give several years of pleasure at a very wallet-friendly price.

The 2014 Chateau la Pirouette is a blend of 50% Merlot and unusually, 50% Petit Verdot that was picked very late. It has a well-defined, clean, blackberry and boysenberry-scented bouquet that opens nicely in the glass. The palate is well balanced, that Petit Verdot expressive and married neat and tidy with the Merlot that gives it the crucial flesh and harmony. This was an astute blending decision and it works well. It just needs another 12 months to subsume the oak.