Here is a wine of many parts and decidedly mixed messages in that it starts out with very rich, impressively layered aromas of sweet fruit, tobacco, cocoa and black tea, but its flavors come up taut, a bit leaner and less obviously complex than anticipated. Its passing suggestions of suppleness are supplanted by slightly acidy stiffness just now, and the hard edge that it shows at the finish makes it one to cellar away for five to ten years.

Bright ruby-red. Brisk aromas of currant, cedar and minerals. Firmly built, complex and aromatic, with lovely flavor definition and excellent palate coverage. Finishes with mouthcoating tannins and very good length. An excellent vintage for Lagrange. In comparison to this wine, the young 2004 seems more medicinal and austere, with a larger structure.