The nose has a restrained, mineral edge. Gun-smoke and flinty notes, wild herbs and sous bois with super fine cherries, as well as crushed red flowers. The palate has a sleek and appealingly powerful feel that expands fully on fine, long and fresh tannins. The regal finish is already impressive.
Reduction impairs an evaluation of the nose but there is good verve to the relatively finely detailed broad-shouldered flavors that exude noticeable minerality on the tension-filled and muscular yet highly seductive finish that is both beautifully balanced and long. I like both the concentration and power and in 2017 this is the best wine in the range.
The 2013 Chambertin Clos de Bèze Grand Cru is showing beautifully, bursting from the glass with a maturing bouquet of wild berries, blood orange, black truffles, spices and rich forest floor. On the palate, the wine is medium to full-bodied, broad and enveloping, with melting tannins, a generous core of fruit and a long, penetrating finish. In keeping with the vintage—which was characterized by long hang time but cool conditions—it's a Clos de Bèze that displays mature, even autumnal fruit tones as well as tangy acids, making for a wine that's simultaneously supple and penetrating.
The 2019 Chambertin Clos de Bèze Grand Cru is destined to be much less controversial than its 2018 predecessor, as Bouchard was able to determine the date of harvest this year. Wafting from the glass with notes of cherries, woodsmoke, dried flowers, licorice and loamy soil, it's full-bodied, bright and tightly wound, with real concentration and a long, precise finish. WILLIAM KELLEY
Flavors of black cherry, black currant, earth and spice are draped onto the
elegant frame of this red. Its structure lends grip on the compact finish, while
the oak is pretty dominant now. - B.S.
Dark red. Tight, high-pitched aromas of black cherry, blackberry and licorice. At once refined and decadent in the mouth, conveying a sophisticated glossy texture leavened by superb cut and energy. Boasts a near-perfect balance of urgent dark fruits and complex minerality, saturating every square millimeter of the palate. Finishes with noble tannins and outstanding rising length. A wine of great class, but still utterly primary.
Elegant, showing intensity to the cherry, currant, spice and mineral flavors, with plenty of tension and concentration throughout. Light vegetal and underbrush notes add depth as this cruises to a long aftertaste.
Once again very generous but not completely dominant wood serves as a borderline intrusive backdrop to the more elegant and spicier nose of various wild red berries that display added breadth in the form of earth, stone and floral nuances. There is excellent verve to the intensely mineral-driven and overtly powerful big-bodied flavors that deliver strikingly good persistence on the impeccably well-balanced finish. While this will improve over the next 15 to perhaps even 20 years it should be reasonably civilized after “only” 8 to 10 years of cellar time.
Bright, dark red. Captivating nose combines raspberry, red licorice, iron, dried rose, mocha and minerals. all lifted by a high-pitched floral quality. Wonderfully juicy, intense and delineated, showing great energy but also considerable medicinal reserve. Silky and utterly weightless wine with great delicacy and outstanding balance. The rising, highly perfumed, extremely long aftertaste is like a wake-up call for the taste buds. The tannins here are remarkably suave.
(40% vendange entier): More energetic and terroir-driven on the nose than the Chapelle-Chambertin, offering scents of black cherry, licorice, minerals and medicinal spices. Wonderfully silky and seamless but also quite firm, with its currant, licorice and salty mineral flavors lifted by a peppery element that is no doubt at least partly from the stems. The tactile, powerful, slowly mounting finish displays extremely refined tannins and saturates the taste buds. Left behind a captivating perfume of dried flowers in the empty glass.
