Chambertin Clos de Bèze Grand Cru 2015

"Bright, dark red. This grand cru's typical early exotic character is masked today by strong oakiness. Very large-scaled, tactile and powerful if not as sweet as usual in the early going, conveying an impression of huge extract. Wonderfully silky and thick but not yet expressive in spite of its superb energy and lift, as the wine's dark cherry, spice and game flavors are currently blocked by oak. More massive but less refined than the Chambertin, with the tannins coming across as tougher and a bit dustier today. I have no doubt that this wine is simply passing through an awkward stage, but it's hard to imagine that it will ever equal the astonishing Chambertin."

"(90% new wood). Once again the wood treatment is in evidence but it’s by no means intrusive as it easily allows for the clear expression of the plum, black cherry, lavender, violet and tea aromas. The exceptionally rich and impressively dense broad-shouldered flavors also exhibit excellent minerality and almost as much power on the massively long finish. As is usually the case when one compares these two wines, this is finer and offers a distinctly different expression. The Bèze typically shows a bit better and more completely young and then after 15 to 20 years the Chambertin often surpasses it. Which you will like better is often very much a question of preference but in 2015 they appear, at least at this very early stage, to be qualitatively similar. Time will of course tell but it would be fair to observe that they both possess enormous development potential."

"The 2015 Chambertin Clos de Bèze Grand Cru was served after the Chambertin this year. That's often a sign of which wine they think might have the edge that year, since it is interchangeable, depending on how the wind blows. It has a deeper, perhaps even more penetrating bouquet than the 2015 Chambertin: scents of raspberry preserve, red plum, crushed stone and incense that gain intensity with seemingly every swirl of the glass. The palate has a sorbet-like freshness on the entry, veins of blood orange, white pepper, tangy marmalade infusing the black and red fruit, with impressive structure and precision on the finish. Could a Clos-de-Bèze be any better from barrel? Answer: No."