2012 Morey St Denis Les Chaffots

Healthy medium red. Reduced aromas of raspberry, smoke, brown spices and dried flowers. Rich, dense and harmonious, showing a lovely sugar/acid balance and noteworthy mineral-driven energy. Finishes firm, chewy and long, with a complicating saline quality. This is 13.2% alcohol without chaptalization, according to Laurent Lignier.

(from vines above Clos Saint-Denis): Bright, dark red. Slightly reduced nose shows more minerality and less fruit than the Riotte. Nicely sweet and sappy in the mouth, with harmonious savory acidity giving delineation to the red fruit and sexy soil flavors. This is a relatively sunny combe that retains good acidity thanks to its underlying minerality, notes Laurent Lignier.

The 2012 Morey Saint Denis 1er Cru les Chaffots has a very seductive bouquet, quite floral with wilted rose petals infusing the red cherries, orange sorbet and minerals. The palate is medium-bodied with fine ripe tannins and just when you think it is going to fan out it closes back in, clams up tightly to warn you that this is much too early. Afford this three years, maybe four in the cellar and it should reveal to be a super Morey-Saint-Denis. Jun 2015, www.robertparker.com