2011 Gevrey Chambertin Clos St Jacques
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Tasting notes
The 2011 Gevrey-Chambertin Clos St.-Jacques 1er Cru comes courtesy of a bottle that Sylvie kindly gave me when I mentioned that I had recently conducted a horizontal of 2011s. Typically of Esmonin’s style, the bouquet is very closed at first, displaying an almost metallic tincture amongst the black fruit. And this was after a two-hour decant! In fact, it demanded another two hours before it really opened to reveal blackberry, briary, that faint marine influence that I noticed a couple of years ago. Likewise on the palate one notices that the black fruit turns a shade of rouge, blackberries usurped by raspberry and red plum, plus a hint of Hoi Sin. It is not a wine of so-called “transparency”. This is dense and perhaps disconcertingly to some, rather opaque and therefore afford it another five years in bottle before broaching. Tasted privately at home.
Critic scores
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Jancis Robinson MW
Neal Martin
More reviews and scores
Tasted blind at the Burgundy 2011 horizontal tasting in Beaune. There is a distinct marine/seaweed element on the nose of Esmonin’s Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Clos St Jacques 2011 that is well defined and shows impressive focus and intensity. It gains harmony and intensity with aeration. The palate is medium-bodied, the oak a little more pronounced here than Bruno Clair’s, but with fine tension and a pleasing edgy, peppery razor-sharp finish that lingers long in the mouth. Don't overlook this exemplary Clos Saint Jacques.
Good deep red. Black cherry, licorice, bitter chocolate, flowers and pepper on the brooding nose. Offers good weight and peppery lift to its flavors of black raspberry, dark cherry and spices. Finishes sweetly oaky and long, with tannins that are solid but not at all hard. A superb showing for this consistently excellent bottling, but I'd hold off on drinking this wine for four years or so. Incidentally, Sylvie Esmonin told me that her oldest vines in Clos Saint-Jacques are at the top of the vineyard, which she says narrows the ripening dates between the top and bottom of the vineyards. (The owners of Clos Saint-Jacques have parallel strips of land stretching from the bottom to the top of the cru and generally pick their parcels in one go, in no more than a day or day and a half.)
The 2011 Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Clos Saint Jacques has a very refined bouquet that needs a little encouragement: blackberry, seaweed, gravel scents and a smear of boysenberry. The palate is medium-bodied with firm grippy tannins. There is still just a touch of hardness here, but the finish has a beguiling candied note that just enlivens the senses: hints of black plum and hoisin. This needs a decade in the cellar so that it can really show its stuff. Having tasted through her excellent 2012s, Sylvie invited me a run through her 2011s that had been bottled in April 2013. Importer: Louis/Dressner Selections, New York, NY; tel. (212) 334-8191 and through Berry Brothers & Rudd.