2016 Chambertin

Tasted from bottle, the 2016 Chambertin Grand Cru claims the place of king of the Rousseau cellar this year, soaring from the glass with a complex bouquet of ripe red berries, cherries and plums, complemented by nuances of blood orange, peonies, raw cocoa, grilled meats and spices. On the palate, the wine is full-bodied, deep and multidimensional, with terrific concentration, lively acids and a muscular chassis of ripe tannins that's largely concealed by a prodigious core of fruit. Long, sapid and penetrating, like the Clos de Bèze, this will make for fascinating comparisons with its 2015 counterpart in two decades' time.

The 2016 Chambertin Grand Cru has a beguiling bouquet with copious red berry fruit, crushed minerals, delicate wilted rose petal and light tobacco scents. It has a crystalline beauty. The palate is medium-bodied with fine-grain tannin, wonderful focus and immense poise. This is a class act with bewildering tension and incredible poise towards the finish. God made wine so it could taste like this. Tasted blind at the 2016 Burgfest tasting.

(frost reduced the crop by two-thirds): Bright, dark red. Knockout nose combines black raspberry, crushed rock and a sauvage suggestion of fresh blood, with high notes of spices and violet emerging with air. Juicy on entry, then quite tight and folded in on itself in the middle palate, conveying a very tactile, dense impression. Slightly high-toned yet very primary flavors of red and darker fruits. One can see the frost effect here in the wine's youthfully strict character and chewy tannins but the wine's penetrating finishing minerality suggests that it will reward extended cellaring.