Popped and poured. The colour is a deep garnet at the core with the beginnings of bricking at the edge.

The nose features cherry as well as earthy and mushroomy mature notes, but the oak is a bit heavy handed.

On the palate, the wine is light to medium bodied, with a medium concentration of red fruit flavour. There is enough acidity to keep things fresh. The finish is pleasant but brief.

Overall, this is a nice everyday dinner red, but not particularly good value for the $40 I spent on it, and like many 2003s it's not quite stylistically correct for Bordeaux. Maybe because it's from the north, it's not over-ripe like some 2003's but the overdone oak treatment is distracting.

87 points.

Damn, $40! The 2009 was $17 here.

Nolan,

Yes, I would consider paying $17 for this wine, but we're not so fortunate here. The 2009 was going for something like $45.