Dark impenetrable garnet with bricking edges.  Totally completely gone.  Not corked.  Horrifically pruney but underneath a distinct spice and minerality.  Wonder if this would blow off?  *decants hard* Lots and lots of fierce aeration shows everything you are hoping lurks beneath, but still that oxidized raisin maintains.  It tastes better than it smells.  But not much.  A lemon-peel acidity balanced against chalky terroir and dense, dark fruit, but still that miserable prune over-rules everything.  Could be an off bottle I suppose… could be cooked… but the unfortunate part is: it is something I have tasted before in over-extracted offerings and it very well could be merely an over-ripe, flabby hi-pH offering which just couldn’t hold up to 5 1/2 years.  I’ve seen local Rhones four times the price do this at nearly the same age.  Already wasted too many words on it.  14-0  ◊