Given my derisory tasting notes out of barrel, I was gobsmacked by the showing (blind) of the 2006 Reserve de la Comtesse at Farr Vintners' horizontal. It has a lifted bouquet with blackberry and graphite aromas, strict but focused, aloof even. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannin, smooth in the mouth, but not quite as complex as the nose suggests, with spicy black fruit, graphite and sage towards the finish. I will seek to re-taste this at a later date to reconfirm this showing. Tasted April 2016.