Many 1996 are still pretty closed up right now, as it was a vintage with fairly hefty tannins but this is perfect for drinking with a good carafing first. It's full of generous, rippling berry fruits and soft smudges of cigar box and peat, steady rather than exuberant, with a menthol sign off. Made a perfect match for a homemade Shepherd's pie in the early months of the year, and gives plenty of optimism for how the Left Bank 1996s are going to perform over the next few years.

The first bottle is corked. The second displays a very fine, cedar and tobacco infused nose: quintessentially ’96 claret. Does not quite have the precision of the ’05 or ’00 but more vigour than the ’95. The palate is medium- to full-bodied, becoming quite sinewy in the glass, assertive and “big-boned” but always keeping one eye on elegance and natural harmony. Just builds beautifully on the palate with a superb persistency on the leafy, slightly peppery finish. Lovely wine but could do with a couple more years in bottle. A completely different animal to the bottle I met a couple of years ago, this 1996 has just take ages to settle. Drink 2012-2040.

The 1996 La Mission Haut-Brion is an improvement on the previous vintage, though it remains a couple of steps behind the high point of the decade, which came two years later. This is quintessential 1996 Pessac, featuring scents of warm gravel and scorched earth on a nose that might be classic to some, but a bit dour to others with a penchant for more hedonistic wines. It’s a structured 1996, drier and more austere than the 1998, but there is good grip and delineation, if maybe just a little leafiness toward the finish. Over the years I have found a bit of bottle variation, and this example falls between the best and worst. Overall, I expected more given the vintage. Give this a couple of hours’ decanting. Tasted at the Vinous 1996 horizontal at Berry Brothers & Rudd. -- Neal Martin

Burning wood, smoked herbs, leafy tobacco, and sharp red currants with a peppery edge shape the perfume. Crisp, firm, and slanting towards austere in the palate, this is an old-school-styled wine that some tasters will appreciate more than I did. Drink from 2023-2045.