2012 Beaune Clos de Mouches
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Tasting notes
(production here was just eight hectoliters per hectare, mostly due to hail, according to Frédéric Drouhin): Good medium red. Aromas of cherry, leather and musky underbrush. Very ripe, fat and full, showing a pronounced truffley underbrush character but little in the way of a hail taste. Strong dry extract and saline minerality nicely support the wine's alcohol. Dusty tannins call for some aging. Not a high-pitched, fruity style but very concentrated.
Critic scores
Average Score
Allen Meadows, Burghound
Jancis Robinson MW
More reviews and scores
(harvested over eight days; four separate cuvees were vinified, vs. a normal seven or eight, with the hailed-on fruit destemmed): Good medium red. Aromas of red fruits and damp earth are complicated by mocha and chocolate. At once sweet and savory, with sexy red fruit flavors accented by minerals. Relatively low in acidity but with plenty of tannins to give it structure and shape. Finishes ripe and persistent. This wine has gained in barrel since the start, noted Frederic Drouhin, who told me that careful selection was carried out at harvest time to eliminate the dried berries.
The 2012 Beaune Clos des Mouches is rich, deep and explosive in the glass. Smoke, dark cherries, incense, tobacco and licorice are some of the many notes that resonate off the palate in the 2012. I wouldn't dream of touching a bottle before its tenth birthday, and that may ultimately prove to be optimistic. In 2012, yields were a minuscule 6-8 hectoliters per hectare.
About the producer
Joseph Drouhin is one of the largest and most famous producers in Burgundy, making both domaine and négociant wines. It remains family-owned and run, now in the hands of the fourth generation.