Scented nose here with dark cherries, blueberries, currants, violets, grilled meat and baking spices. Full-bodied with plush tannins and fresh acidity. Dense, creamy and compact with bright fruit at the center and a harmonious structure shaping the mid-palate. Precise and more spicy towards the long finish. Drink or hold.

Shows alluring steeped cherry and damson plum flavors that are creamy and generous on the palate, with tangy acidity powering through. Offers licorice, vanilla and smoke incense accents that fill out the moderately intense center, all firmly bolted by iron. Reveals pleasing chewiness on the otherwise smooth finish. Drink now through 2032. 300 cases made, 25 cases imported.??–KB??Region: France / Northern Rh?ne / Cornas Select to Add

This throws off a robust and zesty mix of loganberry, a?aí and red and black cherry compote flavors, mixed with mouthwatering olive, sweet bay leaf and savory notes. Features nice charcoal streaks that add to the finish. Solidly built. Best from 2024 through 2036. 275 cases made, 50 cases imported.??–JM??Region: France / Northern Rh?ne / Cornas Select to Add

The 1995 northern Rhone offerings are successful. The 1995 Cornas was aged in 100% new oak casks because of its power. Made from 100% 80-year old hillside vineyards, the wine boasts an opaque black color, massive body, and a long, fleshy, concentrated finish that is crammed with fruit. This should prove to be a prodigious Cornas from a vintage that favored other Rhone appellations more so than Cornas. The wines of Tardieu-Laurent are represented by Paris-based broker, Patrick Lesec, (Paris fax # 011 33 1 42843822), various American importers