Colour: Mid-depth of bright, clear scarlet. Aroma: Arresting and exquisite, combining the breadth of Richebourg with the bright, fruity jet and spurt of Échézeaux (though those fruits seem a little more roasted here). There’s a floral sheen, too, meaning that the La Tâche seems to have the finest aromatic grain of the entire family at this stage: the whole is woven together with a perfumed, Cologne-like finesse. Welcome to the springtime of a great burgundy. Flavour: Luscious!

The fruit has the intrinsic energy and power to shock which is proper to burgundy, yet there’s a seductive sweetness and a wealth behind that darting energy. The fruits are complex and many-faceted; there’s a powdery drizzle of spice; the wine has beautiful weight, balance and breadth. Acids? Ripe and meltingly harmonious. Tannins? Finely ground. Once again, I am struck by the unusually gracious quality of these ‘05s from DRC.

There isn’t the driving, showy assertiveness I have found in other good or great 05s; instead, they are unforced and unfussy, their complexities arrayed as calmly as peaks in a mountain range. If you had to present an alien with a single glass to define ‘wine’, this would be the one.