The 2015 Clos Vernay from Chantal and Frédéric Lafarge is quite a bit more red fruity in personality than the Bel Air, wafting from the glass in a lovely blend of cherries, raspberries, pigeon, stony soil tones, a nice dollop of spices and a topnote of bonfire. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and very much defined at the present time by its granitic soil tones, with ripe, chewy tannins and a long, vibrant finish. The Lafarges used fifteen percent whole clusters for the Clos Vernay this year and raised the wine entirely in older demi-muids that they bought from Aubert de Villaine. Lovely juice in the making, but this will need some time to blossom (Drink between 2020-2040)

This is also beautifully elegant while offering a different expression with its cool, pure and equally well-layered nose of spicy and overtly floral red cherry aromas that are cut with plenty of humus-inflected earth. There is a refined yet marked intensity to the delineated middle weight flavors that terminate in a strikingly long and mineral-driven finish that is shaped by very firm but not hard or even especially austere tannins. This too is remarkably good and if you've got the patience to cellar it for at least a few years, would make a great choice.