Château Dauzan-La-Vergne Côtes de Bergerac

This is a deepish garnet with just a faint tawny rim. The nose is old raspberry for a bit, then roasted berries, but going a little towards overripe territory at 1.5 hours, though not enough to cause me to lose interest. Definitely barrique showing today. The acid stands out at first, but the palate adjusts, the fruit gets going, building concentration, and it's sweet for a decent length of time. Although one couldn't call it complex, this is proper barrique-aged …

Level good, but the cork broke in two upon extraction. Old garnet colour with good depth for a 20 year-old wine from the Dordogne. Russet to tawny at fringe. Adequately ripe, but a flat and uninteresting nose, with the oak hardly detectable. Possibly overripe, which is the impression in the mouth, as well. Yet, there's enough acid here to balance what is a rather simple, medium-bodied and mature merlot-based beverage. Good, but falls short of the quality shown by the …