2012 Domaine Frédéric Esmonin Gevrey-Chambertin Estournelles Saint-Jacques 1er Cru

Good deep, bright red. Vibrant, captivating aromas of blackberry, cassis, violet and crushed stone. Silky-sweet, pure and stylish, with intense, rather cool blue and black fruit flavors complicated by spices and minerals. Most impressive today on the sappy, bright, slowly building finish, which throws off notes of medicinal black cherry, pungent crushed stone and earth. This classically dry, saline wine, from one of the highest sites in the village, needs at least five years of patience and will probably be better with a decade of aging. Boasts near-grand cru intensity.

Author: Stephen Tanzer

Issue: January/February 2014