2015 Maison Louis Jadot, Clos de Vougeot Grand Cru

The 2015 Clos Vougeot Grand Cru has an expressive nose with red cherry, cranberry and strawberry fruit, a feminine bouquet with neatly integrated new oak. The palate is medium-bodied with crisp acidity, quite tensile in the mouth with a slightly pinched, compact finish that should broaden out once it has completed its élevage. This is a respectable grand cru, even if I would not hold it up as one of Jadot's top-tier 2015s.

Healthy dark red. Ripe aromas of black cherry, licorice, mocha and espresso. Highly concentrated but backward, conveying terrific intensity to its flavors of black cherry, wild herbs and salty minerality. As youthfully imploded as this wine is, it can't hide its thickness of texture. Jadot's vines in the lower part of the Clos along the Route Nationale benefited from the sweetness and roundness of the 2015 vintage, noted Barnier, but this wine does not convey a high-pH or late-picked impression (it was harvested on September 10). Finishes tactile, ripely tannic and long. Stuffed with fruit but does it have ultimate class?

Tank sample. Bright crimson. Very sweet start and then great bitter fruit on the finish. Quite challenging now. Tannins don’t seem quite ripe enough. (JR)