Loads of licorice and currants follow through to a full-bodied palate, with lots of refined tannins and a long, long finish. This is very structured and layered. Beauty. Better than the 2000. Best after 2010.

The dense ruby/purple-colored 2003 is surprisingly fresh and crisp, displaying no signs of the vintage's extreme heat. This full-bodied, powerful, rich, backward, dense, tannic effort reveals notes of Chinese black tea, creme de cassis, licorice, and melted chocolate. Give it 4-5 years of cellaring, and drink it over the next two decades. 91+

This Clerc-Milon, under the same winemaking team as Mouton Rothschild, is an attractive wine, not heavy, already quite soft. It seems to have been heavily extracted, in a New World style, with new wood aromas and flavors, losing something of Pauillac, but a winner in that it's immediately attractive.