Tasted ex-chateau and single blind in Southwold. I was initially quite mean to this Petrus, probably because as my note from October 2010 suggests, it is now a more reticent wine and has far less of that “showboating” it displayed out of barrel. So whilst you initially wonder what all the fuss is about, leaving the wine in my glass for a few minutes eventually, almost reluctantly, reveals a very intense bouquet of wild strawberry, raspberry and crushed stone. It has great precision, real intensity and sense of purpose. The palate is medium-bodied with very smooth, rounded tannins and it feels velvety smooth in the mouth. There is still some oak to be subsumed, which meant I was parsimonious with my score handed in at the tasting. But even after a few minutes the wine is unfolding before my senses and you become aware that this will evolve into a top class Petrus. Tasted January 2012.