2016 Drouhin-Laroze Chapelle-Chambertin Grand Cru

Description

94-96    Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate
The 2016 Chapelle-Chambertin Grand Cru includes around 30% whole bunch fruit. It has a very complex bouquet, a mixture of red and black fruit, a whiff of sea cave, wet limestone and something from underground (mulch or peat?). The palate is medium-bodied with very fine tannin, pure black cherry and blueberry fruit with a taut, quite linear but tensile finish. This is outstanding, a very sophisticated Chapelle-Chambertin in the making with breeding and intellect, all without shortchanging you on fruit.

95    Wine Spectator
“Ripe, lush fruit notes of black cherry and blackberry are matched by lightly chewy tannins and lively acidity. Spice and graphite elements add depth as this finishes with a chalky feel. Best from 2022 through 2040.”

91-93    Allen Meadows for Burghound
Noticeable if mild reduction detracts mildly from the otherwise ripe and earthy red berry fruit aromas. The rich, concentrated and seductively textured flavors possess an ample amount of extract that buffers the very firm tannic spine and confers a relatively refined mouthfeel on the velvety, balanced and patently persistent finish. This succulent effort should also drink reasonably well young if desired.