2014 Domaine Drouhin Laroze, Chambertin-Clos de Beze Grand Cru

Bright medium red. Strong oak tones partly mask aromas of red berries, rose petal and medicinal menthol. At once dense and taut, with savory, firm-edged flavors of cranberry, minerals and white pepper giving the middle palate an incisive character. Not a fleshy wine--in fact a bit youthfully compressed today--but finishes perfumed, focused and long, with pepper and saline mineral notes displaying a slightly tart edge.

The 2014 Chambertin Clos de Bèze Grand Cru includes 45% whole bunch fruit and was matured in 60% new oak. The nose is generous and perfumed with macerated black cherries, wild strawberry and light iodine notes, the new oak nicely integrated. The palate is medium-bodied with a crisp, orange zest-tinged entry. The tannins are quite firm and lend a rigid framework to this wine, this blend from a new oak barrel suggesting that 60% will be the right amount and allow the fruit to come through. Still, I would like a little more breeding here...more aristocracy...this is Clos de Bèze after all!

Vaguely fizzy with some beguiling and complex, even compelling, fruit flavours. This is convincing. Love the savour on the end. (JR)