2012 Chapelle Chambertin
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Tasting notes
Tremblay's daughter was born on July 28, and her new winery building was completed on September 10, in time for the beginning of harvest on September 15—so this was a busy year for Cécile. The 2012 Chapelle-Chambertin Grand Cru is developing beautifully, having shed a touch of youthful reduction it exhibited on release to reveal, today, a youthful bouquet of wild berries, rose hips, exotic spices, musk and vine smoke. Full-bodied, velvety and textural, it's a deep, powerful wine with lively acids and beautifully refined tannins. One of the least-evolved wines from this period of Tremblay's career, the 2012 will continue to reward patience.
Critic scores
Average Score
Neal Martin
Jancis Robinson MW
More reviews and scores
(95% vendange entier ): Medium red. Knockout deep nose combines small red fruits, sexy vanillin oak, a distinctly wild animal quality, soil tones and a note of menthol. Powerful but youthfully closed, with intense raspberry and strawberry fruit flavors complicated by sweet spices and a rocky quality. The explosive, ripely tannic finish builds and mounts. This soil-driven grand cru will need patience.
(vinified with 95% whole clusters; from vines that are approximately 85 years old, according to Tremblay): Good dark red-ruby. Cool aromas of dark berries, spices and bitter chocolate. Dense, fat and surprisingly supple, with juicy black cherry and blackberry flavors nicely supported by minerality. This rich yet vivacious grand cru is showing spectacular fruit today. Finishes very long, with firm but sweet tannins.
Exotic and intense to the core, Tremblay's 2012 Chapelle-Chambertin is wonderfully expressive from the very first taste. Orange peel, white pepper and savory herbs all add layers of nuance in a powerful, explosive yet lifted wine endowed with superb depth. Tremblay used 95% whole clusters here. My sense is that the 2012 needs quite a bit of time to fully come together, but that should not be an issue here.