2012 Chateau Chalon

I look forward to each time I'm going to taste a new vintage of the Vin Jaune from Macle. 2012 was a very unusual year that delivered half the yield they got in 2011, and the 2012 Château Chalon showed incredible concentration, power and complexity. It's a textbook example of the style and appellation: elegant and balanced and with refreshing minerality. The array of aromas is mind-boggling, even at this very early stage of its development, with chicken broth, curry, morel mushrooms, lanolin, Chartreuse-like herbs (make that yellow!), rubber, petrol, dry flowers and ash. The palate is velvety, textured, dense and round, with pungent flavors and incredible length and persistence. I don't think it quite reached the complexity and nuance of the truly exceptional 2009, but it's close. Bravo!