2016 Chambertin Clos de Beze
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Tasting notes
The 2016 Chambertin Clos-de-Bèze Grand Cru has the most complex and profound bouquet among the five wines tasted from this vineyard: blackberry, raspberry preserve, wet limestone and light tobacco aromas wafting from the glass with stunning precision. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannins and a fine bead of acidity. This is so harmonious and poised, effortless towards the finish that gently caresses the mouth to such an extent that you could be tempted to drink it now. However, it will clearly deliver 30 or 40 years of drinking pleasure. Stunning. Tasted blind at the 2016 Burgfest tasting.
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Neal Martin
Neal Martin
More reviews and scores
The 2016 Chambertin Clos-de-Bèze Grand Cru is matured in 100% new oak with the same percentage of whole cluster fruit. It has less immediate bouquet compared to the Les Amoureuses and Bonnes-Mares, more cerebral perhaps with dark berry fruit, crushed stone, hints of orange rind and brown spices, unfolding gradually in the glass. The palate is medium-bodied with a sappy, precise and focused entry. It is not a powerful de Bèze, Nicolas Groffier comparing it to his 2012, but I think it is better than that. It has such precision on the finish with a very sustained aftertaste. Just beautiful. Tasted at the Domaine.
(100% vendange entier : 100% new oak; these 100- year-old vines produced a full crop of at least 40 hectoliters per hectare in 2016): Healthy dark red. Explosive aromas of liqueur-like yet tangy red cherry, musky red berries, earth and toasty, smoky oak, lifted by a topnote of rose petal. Plush and ripe on entry, with its deep red berry and spice flavors nicely framed by harmonious acidity. The wine's slightly candied quality is leavened by its briskness. Finishes a bit medicinal but seamless, with suave tannins and terrific rising length and thrust. Really piques the salivary glands but this wine will need bottle aging to integrate its oak element and acidity. Incidentally, this wine has the highest pH among these 2016s at 3.55, but it's hardly lacking in energy.
About the producer
Domaine Robert Groffier is based in the village of Morey-Saint-Denis and is famous for having some of the most enviable sites in the Côte de Nuits, including a full hectare within Chambolle-Musigny Premier Cru Les Amoureuses – one of the most fiercely collected vineyards in Burgundy.