Chambertin Clos de Bèze, Domaine Armand Rousseau 2016

Here too there is just enough wood in evidence to mention on the gorgeously spiced and intricately layered aromas of essence of red currant, floral, plum, earth and a whisper of the sauvage. Once again the mouthfeel of the notably more imposingly-scaled flavors is sleek with excellent minerality that really comes up on the super-saline finish that goes on and on. But what I really admire about the '16 Bèze is the texture because it's at once muscular yet highly seductive and refined. This is a very, very powerful wine that is seriously impressive in every respect. In a word, brilliant. Drink: 2041+

The 2016 Chambertin-Clos de Bèze Grand Cru is showing brilliantly from bottle, unwinding with aeration to reveal a deep and brooding bouquet of plums, cassis and cherries mingled with notions of grilled meats, ceps, peonies and iodine. On the palate, the wine is full-bodied, textural and enveloping, with a muscular chassis of ripe tannin that's cloaked in a core of vibrant and concentrated fruit, concluding with a long and thrillingly carnal finish. It will be fascinating to compare this with the qualitatively similar but stylistically very different 2015 vintage when both wines have 20 years on the clock.

The 2016 Chambertin Clos de Bèze Grand Cru was showing just a little more reduction than the Chambertin this year, though it seems to dissipate and reveal profoundly complex dark berry and sous-bois scents, hints of truffle, bay leaf and clove. However, the palate clearly has more density and more robust tannins that together suggest it is endowed with greater longevity than the Chambertin. There is a crescendo of flavors here, remaining very focused, very intense with darker fruit fanning out on the finish that is akin to major chord thundering from a grand piano. This is an aristocratic, blue-blooded Clos de Bèze that deserves a decade in the cellar, within touching distance of the imperious 2015 Clos de Bèze. 2023 - 2055