The 2016 La Doyenne, a Première C?tes de Bordeaux, has an understated but pure bouquet with red cherries, boysenberry jam and violet aromas that unfurl nicely in the glass. The palate is medium-bodied with crisp acidity, fine structure, subtle but slightly tarry fruit and a gently but insistent grip on the finish. This is a fantastic wine that I look forward to re-tasting in bottle.

The 2015 Le Doyenne is medium garnet-purple colored with a wonderfully perfumed nose of baking spices and rose hips over a core of cherry coulis and black raspberries plus a touch of fragrant earth. Softly spoken, supple and medium-bodied in the mouth, it has lovely expression and harmony.

The 2014 Le Doyenne felt rather reticent on the nose, perhaps a little austere for the vintage. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannin and well-judged acidity, but rather facile red berry fruit that renders this easygoing compared to its peers.

A perennial best-buy, high-quality pick in the Wine Advocate, the 2012 Le Doyenné is a beauty. Deep ruby/purple, with sweet black cherry and blackcurrant fruit, a broad, expansive mouthfeel and lots of plumpness and succulence, this is delicious, richly fruity and exuberant style of wine that represents a major over-achiever and a sleeper of the vintage. Drink it over the next 3-4 years.