2017 Georges Noellat, Vosne-Romanee Premier Cru, Les Beaux Monts

Aromas of cassis, blackberry, orange rind, grilled game and creamy new oak introduce the 2017 Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Beaux Monts, a medium to full-bodied, ample wine with a fleshy core of nicely concentrated dark, sappy fruit, chewy structuring tannins and an expansive finish. Like all of Cheurlin's wines in the last two or three years, this is considerably less advanced than his early vintages were at the same stage, making it harder to assess, so it will be more than usually interesting to revisit from bottle.

The 2017 Vosne-Romanée Les Beaux Monts is completely de-stemmed and raised in 100% new oak. Now this has a great bouquet: very well defined with intense black cherry and kirsch aromas, deftly controlled and focused. The medium-bodied palate displays dense tannin, and the new oak is quite vocal at the moment but should be subsumed with bottle age. Do I think less new oak would have been preferable? Yes. But I still think this should mature into a fine Les Beaux Monts.