2015 Gevrey Chambertin Lavaux St Jacques
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Tasting notes
The 2015 Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Lavaux Saint-Jacques from Domaine Denis Mortet is superb—and further confirmation that this is a wonderful vintage for the Lavaux Saint-Jacques, opening in the glass with a wonderful bouquet of sweet cassis, cherries, rich soil and wood smoke which is still quite youthfully fruit-driven. On the palate, the wine is full-bodied, deep and layered, with an authoritative chassis of rich, velvety tannins cloaked in succulent fruit, and a long, sapid finish. This is an ample, even lavish Lavaux Saint-Jacques that nonetheless remains precise and controlled, fully realizing the potential of the vintage.
Critic scores
Average Score
Neal Martin
Allen Meadows, Burghound
More reviews and scores
Good dark red. Much more reticent on the nose than the glorious Champeaux but already with superb incipient complexity to its aromas of black raspberry, licorice, silex and game. Fat and rich on entry, then quite backward in the middle and not at all in a sweet phase today. In fact, this is much tighter and stricter than the Champeaux and Mes Cinq Terroirs--and seemingly more marked by its oak component in the early going. Best right now on the palate-staining back end, which shows strong medicinal reserve and supporting mineral spine. This powerful, brooding, youthfully medicinal wine may well outperform the Champeaux in the long run; I hope to be alive then.
Really very alluring and beautifully sweet and nicely balanced. Very gorgeous indeed. Long. Neat. (JR)
(30% vendange entier ; 60% new oak): Deep, bright red-ruby. Captivating, nuanced nose offers scents of black raspberry, licorice pastille, mocha, menthol and spices; comes across as darker and wilder than the Champeaux. Then sharply focused and very intensely flavored but more more backward and less fruity than the Champeaux. Most impressive today on the very long, rising back end, which features gripping tannins, an obvious chocolatey oak element and a note of saline minerality.
About the producer
This estate, today with Arnaud Mortet at the helm, makes some of Gevrey-Chambertin’s finest wines. Working with 16 hectares, as well as a few négociant parcels, this property makes perfumed and chiselled Pinot Noir.