From vines on deep gravel, this wine has minerality along with dense fruits. Its concentration from the ripe Merlot has given this full-blooded wine richness and density, restrained for now by the texture and acidity. Drink from 2022 when the cool youthfulness has matured.

The 2016 Brillette is medium garnet-purple colored with a nose of red and black berries, earth and tobacco with touches of garrigue. The palate is medium-bodied, soft and innocuous.

The 2016 Brillette offers blackberry and raspberry on the nose, rose petals and a splash of iodine. The palate is medium-bodied with sappy black fruit, quite rounded in the mouth with good volume, slightly lower in acidity than its peers but there is still admirable detail on the finish. Drink over the next decade. Tasted at the Cru Bourgeois tasting in London.

Elegant, with cedar and spice hints weaving around a core of gently mulled cherry and plum fruit. Reveals a cedary edge on the slightly trim finish. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Petit Verdot. Drink now through 2020. 13,800 cases made, 2,000 cases imported.