2004 Chateau Branaire-Ducru 4eme Cru Classe, Saint-Julien

Good ruby-red. Highly aromatic nose combines blackcurrant, lead pencil, milk chocolate and musky espresso. Supple, sweet and easy to taste today, with captivating notes of spice and bitter chocolate. Offers lovely breadth for the vintage, not to mention intensity and precision of flavor.

Dark red with a hint of amber at the rim. Enticing nose offers delicate red fruit aromas complicated by perfumed flowers and sweet spices. Bright and fresh in the mouth, with peppery red cherry, chocolate mint and mineral elements. Finishes a little simple, but with bright acidity nicely extending the intense violet and rose notes at the back. This is hardly a blockbuster, but I love its balance and perfumed personality. Great food wine.

Possessing the finest aromatics of all the 2004 St.-Juliens, Branaire Ducru offers complex licorice, cranberry, boysenberry, and floral notes interwoven with notions of plums and figs. This dark ruby/purple-tinged, medium-bodied, elegant effort offers sweet fruit as well as ripe tannins. Give it 1-3 years of bottle age and drink it over the following 14 -15.

The 2004 Branaire-Ducru feels as if it were trying too hard on the nose, like a teenager begging for attention. As a consequence it felt a little overdone with fig and dates aromas feeding off the kirsch and cassis fruit. The palate is medium-bodied and sweet on the entry, surprisingly plush in texture but compared against the 2000 and 2001, it did not articulate the terroir with as much style and grace. I also notice some heat on the aftertaste that becomes more noticeable with time. Tasted at the Branaire-Ducru dinner.