2020 Albert Bichot, Clos de Vougeot Grand Cru

The 2020 Clos de Vougeot Grand Cru has a delightful, complex, refined bouquet. The fruit is vivacious and bright, with more Pinoté than some of its peers. The oak is also very well-integrated. The palate is crisp, with pure red and blue fruit on the entry. There's also a cashmere texture. Some quality barrels are here, and the wood is very well integrated. It fans out towards the finish, fleetingly minerally, but then the finish becomes squidgy and slightly baked, and I dock a point. Quite mercurial. Tasted blind at the Burgfest tasting.

TA (sulphuric) 3.6 g/l, TA (tartaric) 5.51 g/l, pH 3.35. 30% whole bunch. 17 months’ oak ageing, 40% new. Cask sample. Earthy, spicy, long and exotic. Lovely balance with fresh black fruit – blackberry and damson. Firm tannins, hit of oak which needs a year or two to settle. Substantially better than many a Clos de Vougeot. (AWH)