2007 Bettane/Desseauve - RVF.

BETTANE & DESSEAUVE
CHATEAU LAROZE 2007 - 15/20
Good colour, fresh bouquet with its palette of red fruit and hints of green pepper; a mature, balanced wine.

REVUE DU VIN DE FRANCE
CHATEAU LAROZE 2007 - No score
This classed growth always has difficulty distinguishing itself as a future. The sample tasted had taken on a lot of wood and had hints of unripe greenness. It was tight and constrained, yet was not lacking in substance. Needs to be tasted again to give it a reliable score.

Jean-Marc Quarin commented: “blackcurrant bud”, B&D: “hints of green pepper”, Ph. Maurange (RVF): “unripe greenness”, Jancis Robinson: “Almost overripe nose”, J. Lawther (Decanter): “fresh and elegant in style”.All these people tasted the same wine at different times describing their own sensations.I have three comments to make:- These olfactory comments underline the 20% proportion of Cabernet Franc in the sample, which will be the same in the final blend. This is, of course, a lot for a Saint-Emilion and sets us off against the others in comparative terms. We will come back to this in the mid- and long-term and I am confident about the quality of the vintage, how long it will keep and its ripe fruit aromas that almost everyone identified on the palate.- When Ph. Maurange (RVF) tasted the wines it was stormy with blustery rain. The wines were closed and displayed nothing, a little like a good pupil on the day of the oral exam, who knows all the answers, but cannot bring out a single word.- In April, there are so many changes in atmospheric pressure from one day to the next that this can have an effect on the taste of wines when they are in the middle of taking on wood. Both phenomena can combine, which can explain why the comments vary so. Of course, I tend to lend credence only to the best – J.M. Quarin and J. Robinson – but that goes without saying…