TASTING NOTES: Its colour is a bright ruby, turning to deep carmine or dark cerise with age. Strawberry, mulberry, violet, mignonette, and rose all help to make up their bouquet of spontaneous aromas. More maturity brings out liquorice, leather and fur, with gamey notes and hints of underbrush. On the palate, it impresses by its firm structure, velvety tannins and delicate texture. Pleasant when drunk young «on the fruit», it is nevertheless first and foremost wine for aging, often for long periods.

SERVING TEMPERATURE: 15 to 16°C

FOOD ACCOMPANIMENT: This is a wine for meat-eaters, its gamey notes giving it a particular affinity for game, whether furred or feathered, especially when the wine is more fully evolved. It also goes superbly with rib steak, lamb (braised or in brown sauce), and all musky, solidly fibrous meats, that need time in the mouth to extract all its savour. Some gourmets will even serve it with a fillet of pikeperch or tuna in red-wine sauce. It is at ease with all strong cow-milk cheeses, in particular Époisses, Ami du Chambertin (a local specialty) or Cîteaux (a near neighbour).