Perrot MinotChambertin Grand Cru Vieilles Vignes 2015

Like the Clos de Bèze bottling, this is made with fruit purchased from Pierre Damoy (although Christophe Perrot-Minot decides on the picking dates in both cases). It's a lighter, more ethereal wine than the more muscular Clos de Bèze with notes of tobacco spice, red plum and strawberry fruit, crunchy acidity and the fine tannins that are the hallmark of this domaine's wines. 2022-32

Dark red with ruby tones. Deeper, darker and earthier than the Clos de Bèze, conveying aromas of dark raspberry, spices and rare steak but less of the high-pitched mineral and floral notes of its sibling. Large- scaled, brooding and backward, but still more red fruits than black in style, with its density and power leavened by electric acidity. Combines incredible thickness and volume without a light touch, thanks to penetrating soil-driven minerality. Finishes with an uncanny impression of solidity but no excess weight. This brilliant Chambertin is built for a very long life in bottle.

This is particularly ripe yet the strikingly complex nose is fresh and expressive with its dark raspberry fruit, earth, violet, herbal tea and sauvage notes. The big, robust and amply muscled flavors are brooding to the point of being intensely primary and borderline backward on the superbly powerful and massively long finish. Importantly there is so much extract that the tannins are almost completely buffered, which will permit a long if slow evolution. In a word, superb.

The 2015 Chambertin Grand Cru was slightly deeper in color than the Clos de Bèze this year, the nose perhaps more intense but just as pure: dark cherries, red plum, a hint of oyster shell and wet limestone. Yet I was more smitten by the Clos de Bèze that has the sensuality. The palate is medium-bodied with fine, quite edgy tannin. This could be described as a tensile Chambertin, full of energy, supremely well focused but remaining linear and strict towards the finish, whereas the Clos de Bèze fans out. It may take several years to hit its stride - it will be fascinating to compare with the other Grand Crus.