2015 Domaine Tawse, Gevrey-Chambertin Premier Cru, Lavaux St-Jacques

The 2015 Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Lavaux Saint-Jacques is completely de-stemmed and comes from 60- to 80-year-old vines. It has a fragrant, limestone-scented bouquet that is very well defined, hints of candied orange peel and quince sprouting with time in the glass. It is very tight at first, very linear and austere in style, very transparent and "cool" with a keen acidic drive leading to a stony, quite spicy finish that delivers fine length. Dare I say this is almost Rousseau in style? Okay. It's Rousseau in style.

(harvested on September 12; 100% destemmed): Bright red. Knockout high-toned nose combines blueberry, grape jelly, dried rose, violet and spices. A wonderfully sappy premier cru with terrific inner-mouth energy and detail. This intense, mineral-driven wine finishes with outstanding lift--especially in light of its relatively late harvest day. The crop level was just 25 hectoliters per hectare here, vs. around 30 for the rest of the ex-Maume holdings, according to Pascal Marchand.